Extracted from the work “Psychophonic Instructions”, by Chico Xavier.

“Brother “F” by which we will designate the companion, whose message we are going to transcribe, was a great banker on Earth. He was certainly not a criminal, in the common sense of the term, but, from the spiritual content of his manifestations, he seems to have been one of those “neither cold nor hot” men of the evangelical symbol, who, bringing his mind warm to the idea of gold, during his existence in the flesh, he was dominated by it in his early days, beyond death.“

“[…] Troubled and afflicted, I felt the need for confession. After all, I was a Catholic who had relaxed his faith. Without anyone listening to my pleas, I asked for the presence of a priest. I advanced towards the confessional and got down on my knees, but in a few moments the confessional became a bank window for me. Startled, I raised my eyes to the altar. The altar, however, had been transformed into a safe. I tried to console myself with the sight of the missal, but the book of worship suddenly appeared metamorphosed into an old book of mine, in which I secretly entered my notes of real income. I tried to isolate myself. I feared complete madness. Still, I lifted my gaze to the image of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, she would feel sorry for me, however, before my attention, the image was reduced to a high-priced jewel... It was made entirely of gold, of pure gold...

[…]

I asked for a water tank that I was familiar with at the top of the Santo Antônio neighborhood. The water, there, ran in spurts. I could bend over... I could drink as if I were an animal and, prostrate, no longer on my knees but crawling, I would implore God's grace. I found running water, clear water visited by sunlight and I stretched out on the ground... But, at the precise moment that my thirsty lips touched the pure liquid, only gold, gold appeared... I recognized that I had descended to the condition of a mentally insane person. . Then I remembered an old friend... Cícero Pereira... Cícero was a spiritist and, for that reason, he became someone I supposed, in my sad blindness, to have left behind in madness. The memory was enough for his voice to be heard. He answered my call. Supported me. Talked to me […]

A great example that one cannot blindly take the communications of a Spirit as if they were the expression of the truth. Imagine if that Spirit, being taken to a spiritual aid meeting, told only the part of the illusion in question and the unsuspecting people left stating that, in the world of Spirits, there is gold...

In this article, Kardec presents the following case: having the medium Mr. D. presented a very interesting phenomenon - that of writing with a much better handwriting when inspired by the Spirits - one of the members of the Society, Dr. V., had the idea of evoking the Spirit of a calligrapher, Bertrand, for observation purposes.

According to The Mediums' Book,

270. When you want to communicate with determined Spirit, it is absolutely necessary to evoke it. (Item 203.) If he can come, the answer is usually: Yea, or I'm here, or yet: What do you want from me? Sometimes he enters directly into the matter, answering in advance the questions that were asked of him.

271. It is often surprising how quickly an evoked Spirit presents itself, even the first time. One would say he was forewarned. This is, in fact, what happens when the one who evokes it is preoccupied with its evocation. This preoccupation is a kind of anticipated evocation and, as we always have our familiar spirits with us, who identify with our thought, they prepare the way in such a way that, if no obstacle arises, the Spirit we wish to call is already present. when evoked.

But is there danger in Summoning Spirits?

278. An important question arises here, that of knowing whether or not there is any inconvenience in evoking bad spirits..

Kardec, OLM

“That depends on the end you have in mind and the influence you can exert on them. The inconvenience is null when they are called for a serious purpose, which is to instruct and improve them; it is, on the contrary, very great, when called out of mere curiosity or for fun, or even when the caller puts himself at their dependence, asking them for some service.. The good spirits, in this case, can very well give them the power to do what is asked of them, which does not exclude the daredevil who dared to ask for help and suppose them more powerful than God from being severely punished later on. . It will be in vain if he promises himself, whoever does so, to make good use of the help requested from then on, and to dismiss the servant once the service has been rendered. This same service that was requested, however minimal, constitutes a true pact signed with the bad Spirit and he does not easily let go of his prey..” (See item 212.).

279. No one exercises ascendancy over inferior spirits, except for moral superiority. Perverse spirits feel that good men dominate them. Against those who are only opposed by will energy, a kind of brute force, they fight and are often the strongest. To someone who was trying to tame a rebellious Spirit, only by the action of his will, he replied to that one: Leave me in peace, with your air of slaughterhouses, which are not worth more than I am; one would say a thief preaching morals to another thief.

282. 11th. Is there any inconvenience in evoking inferior spirits? And is it to be feared that, by calling them, the summoner will come under their dominion? “They only dominate those who allow themselves to be dominated. He who is assisted by good spirits has nothing to fear. It is imposed on the inferior spirits and not the latter on him. Isolated, mediums, especially beginning ones, must refrain from such evocations.. (item 278.)

Continuing with the article, where the medium brings communication:

3. ─ Do you know the main objective that led us to ask for your coming? ─ No, but I want to know.

NOTE: The Spirit of Mr. Bertrand is still under the influence of matter, as might be supposed, given his earthly life. It is known that such spirits are less apt to read minds than those already more dematerialized.

From then on, the Spirit continues to give some more details about his life. In general terms, he showed regret for having misused, or at least not as well as he could, his time incarnate: 

9. ─ What was your lifestyle? ─ I sought to satisfy the needs of the body.

10. ─ Did you take care of things from Beyond the Grave? ─ Almost nothing.

11. ─ Do you regret not belonging to this world anymore? ─ I regret not having put my existence to good use.

12. ─ Are you happier than on Earth? ─ No. I suffer for the good I failed to do.

13. ─ What do you think of the future that is in store for you? ─ I think that all the mercy of God is necessary for me.

14. ─ What are your relationships in the world in which you find yourself? ─ Regretful and unhappy relationships.

15. ─ When you come to Earth, are there places you go, rather than others? ─ I am looking for souls who grieve for my sufferings or who pray for me.

17. ─ It is said that in life he was very tolerant. It is true? ─ I was very violent.

18. ─ What do you think about the purpose of our meetings? ─ I would very much like to have known them in life. They would have made me better.

19. ─ Do you see other spirits there? ─ Yes, but I feel very confused in your presence.

20 – We beg God to have him in his holy mercy. The feelings you have just expressed should allow you to find favor with him. We do not doubt that they will help you in your progress.

NOTE: The teachings provided by the Spirit of Mr. Bertrand are absolutely exact and agree with the way of life and the character they knew him. Only by confessing its inferiority and its mistakes, language is more serious and higher than could be expected. Once again we have proof of the painful situation of those on Earth who are very attached to matter. This is how the inferior spirits themselves sometimes give us, by example, valuable moral lessons..

Do umbral and “Nosso Lar” exist? Where it is? Short answer: they do not exist as people believe, due to lack of knowledge of Spiritism. But, as this is a study group, you should not simply accept this answer, without reasoning, in the same way that you should not accept the isolated ideas of any Spirits, regardless of the medium.

Why is it that many spirits, before Spiritism or under other religions, say that, after death, they found themselves in Hell? Why, in Roman times, did the Spirits claim to be in Tartarus? Why do Spirits who have known Spiritism (that distorted one) say that they found themselves on the umbral or in the valley of suicides, and not in hell? It is very clear that this is due to their own conceptions, because, if one or the other were a reality, there would always be a uniformity in the ideas presented by the Spirits, at all times and everywhere.

Therefore, it is easy to see that these are conceptions of the imaginary. Are they an abomination? Of course not: they are part of our evolution. However, Spiritualism did not come to continue these ideas, in a more pleasant way: it came to present reality, helping human beings to get rid of these limiting conceptions that delay their step. Now, it is a fact that Spiritism has this purpose of leveraging progress, like all science, because, if it were not so, and since the Spirit is immortal, could God, in his Laws, let each one reach progress through infinite incarnations, learning by trial and error, only, and without any support. But He, being all goodness, gives us the tools, the greatest of which is intelligence and reason; it is up to us to use them or not, according to our will.

The role of the medium

The role of the medium is not to interfere in the communication of a Spirit and, through him, any type of Spirits can communicate, depending on the circumstance and the purpose, either of the medium or of the superior Spirits. The role of the scholar is to analyze and to judge these communications, based on the science already acquired and the riddle of reason((Read the article “The role of the researcher and the medium in communications with the Spirits“)).

After Kardec's death and with all the deviation that the Spiritist Movement took, mainly with the true plantation of tares that were Roustaing's ideas, the Spiritists, away from studies, they stopped reasoning and began to allow different ideas, without doctrinal basis, began to flood the imagination of the adepts of the Doctrine. Thus, fantastic and superstitious concepts began to slowly and progressively transform the Movement, which today presents itself as a religion, full of dogmas and false concepts.

What is in Spiritism?

Now, dear reader, there is in The Spirits' Book the following conclusion, presented in question 1012 of The Spirits' Book:

1012((Reviewers' Note: It should be noted that, in the numbering of the book's items, Kardec skipped no. 1011. Despite the obvious oversight, the text was kept that way in the fourteen editions that followed until Allan Kardec's death. To avoid confusion, this edition did not attempt to “correct” the numbering.)). Will there be limited places in the universe for the pains and enjoyments of spirits, according to their merit? 

“We have already answered that question. Pains and pleasures are inherent to the spirits' degree of perfection. Each one takes from himself the principle of his happiness or his misfortune. And as they are everywhere, no circumscribed or closed place exists especially intended for one thing or another. As for the incarnates, they are more or less happy or unhappy, depending on whether the world they inhabit is more or less advanced.”

The) - In accordance, then, with what you come to say, do not hell and paradise exist, such as man imagines them?

“They are simple allegories: there are happy and unhappy spirits everywhere. However, as we have already said, spirits of the same order gather together out of sympathy; but they can meet wherever they like, when they are perfect.”

The absolute location of the regions of penalties and rewards exists only in man's imagination. It stems from their tendency to materialize and circumscribe things, whose infinite essence it is not possible for him to understand.

KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits' Book. 1860

It is very clear that the places, in the world of Spirits, do not exist by themselves. They are mere allegories and, mainly, states of consciousness. The happy Spirit is “in heaven”, while the unhappy and suffering Spirit is “in hell” of his own conscience.

Let us note, however, an important detail, in question 1012-a: “However, as we have already said, spirits of the same order gather together in sympathy.“. This means that, according to their ideas and their states of evolution, the Spirits can come together. Now, knowing that less evolved Spirits are attached to the concepts of matter and knowing that, through the action of the will, the Spirit can act on fluidic matter, coming from the Universal Cosmic Fluid, it is easy to conceive that, together, the suffering Spirits gathered together can create veritable hellish or purgatorial landscapes, which, however, exist only as long as these Spirits shape them, that is, they are not places that precede them, but that exist only as creations of these groupings of intelligences.

Nor can we forget that we, mentally, are capable of creating true illusions, due to our ideas, beliefs, fears, etc. Therefore, it is easy to understand when a suffering Spirit says he is hurt, hungry, thirsty or even tired.

Important: the Spirits, in Spiritism, were categorical in this regard: there are no circumscribed places. On the other hand, about other concepts, they said: “calm down. This cannot be understood yet. Wait for the development of the Doctrine”. This demonstrates that it is false the idea that such concepts could not be taught at that time (which doesn't even make sense).

Let's not stop here, however. In July 1858, in the article “Berezina's Drum“, Kardec asks the following questions, after carrying out a series of inquiries trying to understand the moral and rational state of that Spirit, who was a soldier in his last incarnation:

28. ─ Do you see other spirits around you? ─ Yes, many.

29. ─ How do you know they are spirits? ─ Among us, we see ourselves as we are.

30. ─ How do you see them? ─ As spirits can be seen, but not through the eyes.

31. ─ And you, in what form are you here? ─ Under what I had when I was alive, that is, as a drum.

32. ─ And do you see the other spirits with the forms they had in life? ─ No. We don't take on an appearance until we are evoked. Other than that, we are formless.

The last answer was quite interesting, but so far it was just the opinion of a Spirit. Worthy of note is Kardec's methodology, probing matters of interest, instead of asking direct questions that could be answered in a biased way. Then, in September of the same year, in the article “Lectures from beyond the grave — Mrs. Schwabenhaus. Ecstatic Lethargy“, Kardec asks the following questions, getting the following answers. Please note:

29. ─ In what form are you among us? ─ Under my last female form.

30. ─ Do you see us as distinctly as if you were alive? ─ Yes.

31. Since you have been here with the form you had on Earth, is it through the eyes that you see us? ─ No, the Spirit has no eyes. I only find myself in my last form to satisfy the laws that govern spirits when evoked and forced to resume what you call perispirit.

Let's see, then: there are already two Spirits, of different elevations, besides the one who answered OLE's questions, saying the same thing: for the Spirit freed from matter, there is no form, like the one we understand. They assume the perispirit, attending to a natural law, only when they need to act materially, when, for example, they approach us to communicate (with materially I mean: they need to assume the perispirit to be able to put themselves in communication with us, which, above all, happens through this “clothes”).

General teaching and reason

Kardec always highlighted, as an indispensable method for the formation of spirit science, the double control of reason and the general teaching of the Spirits. But that's not all: the teaching, emphasizes Kardec, when it must be spread, it is given simultaneously over various points of the globe. The concepts presented here, however, were not established in this way: they were brought by a Spirit or medium, at a time, and, over time, began to be accepted by other individuals, who began to reproduce them. It is as if it were an inverted pyramid, in time: currently, from a construction of illusory theories of the past, a series of others were developed, contrary to the Spiritist Doctrine itself and recovering several concepts of the old religions.

“But I saw it on astral travel”

For the Doctrine student, it is very clear that the individual's ideas play a fundamental role in what he sees and how his physical mind interprets these “visions”.

Kardec, in A Genesis, cap. XIV, highlights that:

27. Spiritual vision is necessarily incomplete and imperfect among incarnate spirits and, consequently, subject to aberrations. Having its seat in the soul itself, its state must influence the perceptions. According to the degree of its development, the circumstances and the moral state of the individual, it can give, whether in sleep or in the waking state: 1st) the perception of certain real material facts, such as the knowledge of occurrences that happen at a distance, the descriptive details of a locality, the causes of an illness and the convenient remedies; 2) the perception of equally real things in the spiritual world, such as the vision of spirits; 3rd) fantastic images created by the imagination, analogous to the fluidic creations of thought (see above, no. 14). These creations are always in relation to the moral dispositions of the Spirit who creates them. This is how the thinking of people strongly imbued and preoccupied with certain religious beliefs presents them with hell, its boilers, its tortures and its demons, in the way they themselves imagine: it is sometimes an entire epic; pagans seeing Olympus and Tartarus, as Christians see hell and paradise. If, upon awakening or coming out of ecstasy, these people retain an accurate memory of their visions, they regard them as reality and confirmation of their belief, even though they are only the product of their own thoughts. A very strict distinction must be made from static views before accepting them. In this sense, the remedy for excessive credulity is the study of the laws that govern the spiritual world.

28. Dreams themselves present the three natures of visions described above. To the first two belong dreams of prediction, presentiments and warnings. In the third, that is, in the fluidic creations of thought, one can find the cause of certain fantastic images, which have nothing real in relation to material life, but which, for the Spirit, have such a reality that the body suffers an impact. , as hair has been seen to whiten under the impression of a dream. These creations can be provoked by exalted beliefs, memories, tastes, desires, passions, fear, remorse, habitual worries, bodily needs or malaise related to the organism's functions; finally, by other spirits, with a benevolent or malevolent objective, according to their nature.

That is to say, dear reader, that, according to spiritist science, places in the world of spirits are nothing more than false concepts. Unfortunately, falling into novel curiosity and absent from these foundations, the Spiritists began to admit the fruits of the isolated ideas of certain Spirits as if they were the full truth.

It remains to say, therefore, that there is no umbral, there is no valley of suicides and there are no spiritual colonies. as we believe: there are Spirits that come together, according to their ideas, and that, the more they are distracted from the purpose of the interval between incarnations, which should be to reflect and learn, reinforcing their will to overcome their imperfections in the next incarnation, they create “material” scenarios. , replicating earthly habits, which constitutes, for them, a real delay towards happiness.

Teaching the false concepts of umbral, suicide valleys, spiritual hospitals, etc., which are the external representation of moral suffering, is failing to teach what really matters: the analysis of one's mistakes and successes, the understanding that everything depends on the own will and the necessary action for one's own evolution. For a Spirit that suffers, and for ourselves, let's say: any suffering or physiological need, in the spiritual world, are FALSE sensations, a kind of moral repercussion ((see The Spirits' Book, second part, chap. VI, item 257)) . Now, it is Kardec's conclusion that the death of the body causes the Spirit to leave, disconnecting the perispirit, cell by cell ((see Genesis, chapter XI)). Since all the cells are dead and the perispirit is “released” (which will not take more than 24 hours after brain death) there is no repercussion from the body to the Spirit, other than through an externalization of moral suffering!

Therefore, you will not go “over the umbral”, but you will have to face your own conscience, at one time or another, and your conscience, depending on how you are and the concepts you carry, can very clearly indicate the path of readjustment. , or else it may set you in time-wasting states. Heaven or hell will be on your own conscience. Therefore, take care to learn Spiritism and draw from it the moral consequences in support of your own will. In this way, you will reach, sooner, the desired happiness, which is not living in a cozy little house in a spiritual colony where the Spirits are concerned with working to earn money in exchange, but the possibility of acting for good, through infinite space, making their part in divine creation.

And make no mistake: the Spirit is transported by thought, wherever he projects that thought. No need for a flying bus.

Where is the key to understanding all this, then?

It's in A Genesis, by Allan Kardec. Read with attention:

14. 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. Through thought, they imprint this or that direction on the fluid; they agglomerate, combine or disperse them and form sets with an appearance, a shape, a certain color; they change their properties, as a chemist changes those of a gas or other bodies, 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 Spirit's thought 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 to the Spirit as they would be in the material state to the incarnate man. But because they are created by thought, their existence is as ephemeral as it [thought].

It is very easy to understand, therefore, what we said: “why does it exist? Because they believe.” We therefore need to recognize the need understanding and separating what is false from what is true, because, as soon as someone says that, in the world of spirits, there are bogeymen who eat children, or spirits that vampirize the perispiritual fluid of the incarnate (the what no can happen, knowing the principle of universal laws that govern matter and Spirit), and that people start to, without thinking, believe, without reasoning, in these concepts, themselves, after they die, depending on their state of consciousness, will manufacture their own hauntings, that is, by the action of thought, will create such images and, then, in their mediumistic communications, they will reproduce the same ideas, probably increased here and there, after all, “whoever tells a tale, increases one point”.

Do you understand the problem, dear reader?

Explanatory video, with Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo

Conclusion

With all this, are we saying that Chico Xavier was wrong? NO, by the principle of Chico Xavier being just the medium. However, André Luiz, who was not even a spiritualist person, on Earth, presented his truth of things, according to his conceptions. And, since this opinion has no doctrinal and rational basis, it cannot be part of Spiritism.

It is important to note, however, that if such creations exist, it is because God allows them. In fact, this is something linked to the divine benevolence itself, which guarantees, to each one, a gradual and shock-free development. In the article “About the Spirits who believe they are still alive”, from the Spiritist Magazine of 1864, there is an important spiritual communication, from which we take the following excerpt:

Not everything is proof in existence; the life of the Spirit continues, as you have been told, from its birth to infinity; for some, death is nothing more than a simple accident that has no influence on the fate of the person who dies. A fallen tile, an attack of apoplexy, a violent death, very often, do nothing but separate the Spirit from its material envelope; but the perispiritual envelope retains, at least in part, the properties of the body that has just succumbed. On a day of battle, if I could open your eyes which you have, but which you cannot make use of, you would see many fights continue, many soldiers still rising to the assault, defending and attacking the redoubts; you would even hear them utter their hurrays! and their battle cries, in the midst of the silence and under the dismal veil that follows a day of carnage; the fight is over, they return to their homes to embrace their old fathers, their old mothers who are waiting for them. Sometimes this state lasts a long time for some; it is a continuation of terrestrial life, a mixed state between corporeal and spiritual life. Why, if they were simple and wise, would they feel the cold of the grave? Why would they pass abruptly from life to death, from daylight to night? God is not unjust, and He leaves this joy to the poor in spirit, hoping that they will see their state through the development of their own faculties, and that they may pass calmly from the material life to the real life of the Spirit.

We see, therefore, that the existence of such “places” is a fact, permitted by divine benevolence, to those who are not yet developed to understand something above and outside of matter and material needs.

We end by remembering what is printed on our homepage:

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

By Marco Milani

(Text published in Senda Magazine – FEEES, May/Jun 2022, p.5-6 ((Source: https://www.feees.org.br/?jet_download=3739)))

Throughout his speech to the community of spiritists in the French cities of Lyon and Bordeaux, in 1862, Kardec ((Book Viagem Espírita em 1862. Speeches given at the general meetings of spiritists in Lyon and Bordeaux. Speech I)) categorized the followers into three large groups: I) Those who believe purely and simply in the phenomena of manifestations, but who do not deduce any moral consequences from them; II) Those who perceive the moral reach, but apply it to others and not to themselves; III) Those who personally accept all the consequences of the doctrine and who practice or strive to practice their morals.

The true spiritist, therefore, applies to himself what many only manifest in normative discourses loaded with ennobling lessons, but empty of actions.

Among each of these categories, multiple subcategories could be identified, proportional to the moral and intellectual maturity of the individuals. One of them would be formed by those who present themselves as adepts, but adapt the teachings to their own interests and not infrequently seek to legitimize their particular opinions on various controversial subjects, claiming these are based on Spiritism. Such is the spiritist for convenience, who customizes the faith according to his interests and ambitions.

Customized faith is adopted at the expense of doctrinal coherence by new sophists who distort reality to shape the appearance of truth. Such distortion often stems from the passions that the supposed adept carries and directs his cosmovision and consequent argumentation. Instead of using doctrinal premises to get to know himself, improve himself and rethink his previous beliefs with a natural change of attitudes, he does the opposite, starting from deep-rooted ideological convictions to fit Spiritism into these proposals. What does not fit or is divergent, is simply ignored or reinterpreted.

 This is what happens with political passions. In a world of expiations and trials, there is no shortage of old social revolutionary proposals that promise the realization of the kingdom of justice on Earth as long as a certain guideline already devised by interpreters of history and planners of collective behavior is followed. Almost all of these utopian recipes for happiness ignore the interexistential process of development and preach the imposition of artificial and collectivist economic relations such as those that would morally transform the individual, but which end up suffocating him. For these, the Spirit Erastus ((Excerpt taken from Erastus' epistle to the spiritists of Lyon – 1861. A warning against materialist utopias. Revista Espírita, Oct/1861.)) manifests itself in this way. 

I just said the word egalitarian. I think it is useful to dwell a little on it, because we have absolutely not seen impractical utopias preached in your midst, and also because, on the contrary, we vigorously reject everything that seems to be linked to the prescriptions of an antisocial communism; above all, we are essentially propagandists of individual freedom, indispensable for the development of the incarnate; therefore, declared enemies of everything that comes close to these convent legislations, which brutally annihilate individuals.

 Fruit of utopian illusions, many spiritualists for convenience select and reinterpret doctrinal concepts to legitimize the political model they carry of systems of socioeconomic relations that depend on the moral perfection of all.

Transitory social issues were recurrently present in Allan Kardec's dialogues with the Spirits and the respective doctrinal teaching contains the fundamental elements for the construction of a more just and fraternal earthly society, based on the knowledge of the spiritual reality and the purpose of reincarnation.

The primordial contribution of Spiritism in social progress is evident in the condition of a powerful agent of moral transformation of humanity, without any framing in political-ideological conceptions already conceived.

As an inter-existentialist philosophy, Spiritism is not limited to the relationships of the material world, as it expands the understanding of reality and shifts the ultimate purpose of being towards the conquest of the true Kingdom of God in itself. Human miseries are reflections of the moral level of individuals, confronting them with the wounds of pride and selfishness, encouraging them to exercise their intelligence and practice charity in its true sense, in harmony with divine laws.

Spiritism, by demonstrating the responsibility of each one for their actions and respective consequences during the reincarnation process in full compliance with natural laws, moves away from the myopic materialist historical perspective that conceives man as a product of his environment and ignores his reincarnation baggage. , your evolutionary tendencies and needs for spiritual attainment. The expression “to each one according to his works” summarizes the meritocratic essence of the individual effort in the inner journey in search of true happiness, according to Spiritism.

Trust and rational belief in divine justice and in the future guided by the consequent benefits of the practice of charity, here understood as benevolent, indulgent action aimed at the forgiveness of offenses, should guide the adept's balanced conduct, promoting comfort and courage to overcome material challenges. The spiritist's conduct reflects his own moral progress in the works carried out and is recognized as consistent with the principles of peace and solidarity he professes.

Reasoned faith, from this angle, critically analyzes and admits the consistency of the set of teachings presented by Allan Kardec, inviting the adept of the spiritist philosophy to act according to doctrinal principles, reducing and attenuating habits and proud and selfish postures. Certainly, in a world of expiations and trials, sudden perfection should not be demanded and moral progress is gradual and proportional to the efforts and maturity of each one.

Social transformation, for Kardec, will not occur in an imposing and totalitarian way on the individual, but in the opposite way, resulting from the improvement of the individual while respecting each person's freedom of conscience. As stated in the February 1862 edition of the Revista Espírita ((Excerpt taken from the text Response addressed to the spiritists of Lyon on the occasion of the New Year, Revista Espírita, Revista Espírita, Feb/1862)), we have:

Look for in Spiritism what can improve you: this is the essential thing. When men are better, really useful social reforms will follow naturally; working for moral progress, you will lay the truest and most solid foundation of all improvements, and will leave it to God to see that they arrive in due time. In the interest of Spiritism, which is still young, but which matures quickly, oppose an unshakable firmness to those who want to drag you down a dangerous path..

 By believing only in what is in agreement with their political-ideological passions and rejecting everything in the spiritist doctrine that contradicts them, the adept for convenience exemplifies the selfish and proud posture that leads to doctrinal folly. Political militancy, with the aim of occupying spaces and disseminating its proposals to convince the largest number of people, disrespects the freedom of thought and free will of others in spiritist institutions and causes schisms.

Allan Kardec, addressing the spiritists in Lyon in 1862, already warned about the trap prepared by opponents of Spiritism who aimed to bring political discussion to spiritist groups ((ibidem)).

I must also point out to you another tactic of our opponents, that of seeking to compromise spiritists, inducing them to move away from the true objective of the doctrine, which is morality, to address issues that are not within their scope and that, just title, could arouse susceptibilities and mistrust. Don't let yourself fall into that trap; carefully remove from your meetings all that pertains to politics and irritating matters; In this respect, discussions will only cause embarrassment, while no one will have anything to object to morality, as long as it is good.

                       Acting as promoters of cizânia in the name of varied political passions, the supposed adherents who customize the faith enthusiastically launch themselves into the proselytizing of their personal convictions, camouflaging them from doctrinal matters, fostering discussions against or in favor of rulers, defending or attacking behavior of others, or even, trying to make believe that only those who share their political-ideological passions could be considered a legitimate spiritist.

That in these agitated times by political polarization, we can understand Kardec's warning about care in dealing with passions and respect for freedom of thought and exemplify in ourselves the behavior we would like others to have.

SOURCE OF GOOD AND EVIL
Extracted from A Genesis, 4th edition, FEAL — Allan Kardec

1. God being the beginning of all things, and that beginning being all wisdom, all
goodness and all righteousness, whatever comes from him must share these attributes, for the
who is infinitely wise, just, and good cannot produce anything unreasonable, evil, and unjust. The evil we observe cannot have originated from him.

2. If evil were in the attributions of a special being, be he called Ahriman, or Satan, of two, one: either he would be equal to God and, consequently, also powerful and eternal, or he would be inferior.

In the first case, there would be two rival powers, fighting incessantly, each seeking to undo what the other is doing, opposing each other. This hypothesis is irreconcilable with the harmony that is revealed in the order of the Universe.

In the second case, being inferior to God, this being would be subordinate to him. Not being able to be eternal like him without being his equal; could only have been created by God. If it was created, it could only have been by God. In that case, God would have created the Spirit of evil, which would be a denial of his infinite goodness.

3. According to a certain doctrine, the evil Spirit, created good, would have become evil, and God,
to punish him, would have condemned him to remain eternally evil, giving him the mission of
seduce men to lead them into evil. Now, with the possibility of a single fall ((The fall, for dogmatic religions represents an event in which man, in his origin, committing a serious offense against God, losing his original sanctity, justice and wisdom, falling through punishment in his present condition: with suffering, ignorance, drift into sin and death. In other words, there would be degradation of the soul. The Spiritist Doctrine, based on the concept of the evolution of the soul from being simple and ignorant due to its effort, establishes its theory through this solid logic. (N. do E .))) cost them the cruelest punishments for eternity, without hope of forgiveness, there would not only be a lack of kindness. However, a premeditated cruelty, because, to make the seduction easier and better hide the trap, Satan would be authorized to to transform himself into an angel of light and to simulate the works of God, even to the point of deceiving. Thus, there would be more iniquity and improvidence on the part of God, because giving Satan all the freedom to emerge from darkness and surrender to worldly pleasures to drag men, the provoker of evil would be less punished than the victims of his tricks, for these, falling through weakness, once into the abyss, they can no longer come out. God refuses them a glass of water to quench their thirst, and throughout eternity, with the angels, He hears their groans, without being moved, while allowing Satan all the pleasure he desires.

Of all the doctrines on the theory of evil, this is undoubtedly the most irrational and the
most offensive to the deity. (To see Heaven and Hell according to Spiritism.
First part, chapter IX, The demons.)

4. However, evil exists and has a cause.

There are several classes of evil ((At the time of Allan Kardec, the Philosophy taught at universities, in normal schools (currently teaching) and in colleges was rational Spiritualism. In the discipline of theoretical morality (one of the Philosophical Sciences), it was taught to difference between physical and moral evil, to demonstrate a revolutionary theory based on personal freedom, contrary to the dogma of the fall and divine punishment of ancestral religions and external coercion, by materialism: “Physical evil consists of pain, illness, death . They are inevitable consequences of the organization of sentient beings, an essential stimulant for their activity. Moral evil is the fundamental condition of freedom. Without evil, good is not possible in the world, because if man could not make mistakes, he would not be free nor would I be able to do good. This life is a time of trial and, without physical and moral evil, there is no place for courage, patience, dedication and other virtues.” (Le Mansois-Duprey. Cours de Philosophie Élémentaire em L 'école normale: journal de l'enseignement pratique. v. 13. Paris: Larousse et Boyer, 1864. p. 235.) Spiritist moral theory was a development of rational Spiritualism: “Spiritism rests, therefore, on general principles independent of all dogmatic questions. It has, it is true, moral consequences like all Philosophical Sciences.” (Spiritist Magazine, 1859.). (N. do E.))). Firstly, there is physical evil and moral evil. We can also classify evils into those that man can avoid and those that are independent of his will. Among the latter, it is necessary to include natural scourges.

Man, whose faculties are limited, cannot understand all of them or encompass all the Creator's designs; he judges things from the point of view of his personality, interests and artificial conventions he has created for himself, which do not belong to the order of nature. That is why, in general, what he would consider just and admirable, if he knew its cause, its objective and the final result, seems to him harmful and unjust. By investigating the reason for being and the usefulness of each thing, you will recognize that everything has the imprint of infinite wisdom and will bow before that wisdom, even in relation to things that you do not understand.

5. Man has been given an intelligence by which he can ward off, or at least
greatly diminish the effects of natural scourges. The more knowledge you acquire and
advances in civilization, the less these calamities are disastrous. with wise organization
social, may even neutralize their effects, when they cannot be fully
avoided. In this way, for the same scourges which are useful in the general order of nature and for the future, but which attack us in the present, God has given to man, with the faculties with which he has endowed his Spirit, the means to paralyze their effects.

Thus, man cleanses unhealthy regions, neutralizes pestilent miasmas, fertilizes
uncultivated lands, preserves them from flooding; healthier houses are built, stronger to withstand the winds, so necessary for the purification of the atmosphere, and protection from the climate. It is thus, finally, that, little by little, necessity made him create the Sciences, with the help of which he improves the conditions of habitability of the globe and expands the whole of its well-being.

As man must progress, the evils to which he is exposed constitute an incentive for the exercise of his intelligence and of all his physical and moral faculties, inviting him to research the means to avoid them. If he had nothing to fear, none
necessity would drive him to seek the best; he would numb himself in the inactivity of his mind; I wouldn't invent or discover anything. Pain is the sting that pushes man forward, on the path of progress..

6. But the most numerous evils are those created by man through his own vices;
from your pride, your selfishness, your ambition, your greed, your
excesses in all things. This is the cause of the wars and calamities that cause
disagreements, injustices, the oppression of the weak by the strong, and, finally, most diseases.

God has established laws full of wisdom, the aim of which is good. man finds
in itself all that is necessary to follow them. Your path is traced by your
conscience, and the divine law is engraved in his heart. Furthermore, God remembers him,
constantly, by its messiahs and prophets, by all the incarnate spirits that
received a mission to clarify, moralize and contribute to their improvement, as well as
as, in recent times, by the multitude of disembodied spirits that manifest themselves on all sides. If men strictly conform to divine laws, there is noThe doubt that they would avoid the most serious evils, living happily on Earth. If he doesn't, it's because of his free will, and he must accept the consequences.

7. But God, full of goodness, placed the remedy on the side of the evil; that is, from evil itself it gives birth to good. There comes a time when the excess of moral evil becomes intolerable and makes man feel the need to change his life. Instructed by experience, he feels obliged to look for the medicine he needs in the good, always by virtue of free will. When he takes a better path, it is of his own volition and because he has recognized the disadvantages of the other road. Necessity compels him to improve morally in order to be happier, as this same necessity compelled him to improve the material conditions of his existence.

it can be said that evil is the absence of good, as cold is the absence of heat. The evil
it is no longer a distinct attribute, any more than cold is a special fluid; one is the
denial of the other. Where good does not exist, there is necessarily evil. Not doing evil is already the beginning of good. God only wants good, evil only comes from man. If there were in Creation a being in charge of evil, man could not avoid him. However, having the cause of evil in yourself and, at the same time, having his free will and the divine laws for his guide, he will avoid it when he will.

Let's take a common fact by comparison: an owner knows that, at the
of your land, there is a dangerous place where you can be injured or die. What do you do to avoid
accidents? Place, near the place, a sign to move away, because of danger. This is the law; she is wise and provident. If, in spite of this, a reckless person ignores the warning and has an accident, who could be held responsible but himself?

So it is with evil. Man would avoid it if he observed divine laws.
God, for example, has placed a limit on the satisfaction of needs; the man is
warned by satiety; if he goes beyond that limit, he acts voluntarily. The illnesses, the bodily weaknesses, the death that can result are your doing, not God's.

8. Evil being the result of man's imperfections, and man created by God, they will say, that if he did not create evil, at least he would have created the cause of it. If I had created the perfect man, evil would not exist.

If man had been created perfect, he would be fatally inclined towards good. Now,
by virtue of his free will, he does not inevitably tend towards either good or evil. God wanted him to be subjected to the law of progress, and for this progress to be the result of his own work, so that the merit would be his, even though he is responsible for the evil he commits by his will. The question, therefore, is to know what, in man, is the origin of his propensity to evil((The error consists in claiming that the soul came perfect from the hands of the Creator, when he, on the contrary, wanted perfection to be the result of the gradual refinement of the spirit and its own work. God wanted the soul, by virtue of its free will, to be able to choose between good and evil, reaching its ultimate ends through a dedicated life and resistance to evil. If he had created the soul with perfection in his likeness – and, leaving his hands, he had linked it to his eternal beatitude –, God would have made it, not in his image, but similar to himself, as already said. Knowing all things due to its essence and without having learned anything, but moved by a feeling of pride born of the awareness of its divine attributes, the soul would be induced to deny its origin, to ignore the author of its existence, remaining in state of rebellion against its Creator. (Bonnamy, investigating judge. The reason for Spiritism, chapter VI.) (Note by Allan Kardec.))).

9. If we study all passions, and even all vices, we see that they have their principle in the instinct of conservation. This instinct, in all its strength in animals and in the primitive beings that are closest to animal life, dominates alone, because, among them, there is still no counterbalance to the moral sense. The being has not yet been born for intellectual life. Instinct weakens, on the contrary, as intelligence develops, because it dominates matter. With rational intelligence, free will is born, which man uses at will: then only, for him, does the responsibility for his actions begin ((In the spiritist moral theory, free will arises after the development of rational intelligence. From this In this way, moral responsibility only begins there and gradually expands, in direct proportion to rational development. In animals and in beings that are still simple and ignorant, free will, moral sense and responsibility for their actions did not arise. These concepts Psychological approaches completely remove the dogmas of original sin, the fall and incarnation as punishment. The scientific hypotheses of selfishness and antisocial feelings innate in all individuals are also false. It brings encouragement, because the greater the intelligence, the greater the responsibility. Finally , for the full moral evolution of humanity it is necessary to guarantee for all individuals the opportunity for rational development through education. (N. do E.))).

10. The destiny of the Spirit is spiritual life. But in the early stages of its existence
bodily, he has only material needs to satisfy. For that purpose, the
exercise of the passions is a necessity for the conservation of the species and individuals,
materially speaking. However, coming out of this period, he has other needs, at first semimoral and semimaterial, and later exclusively moral. It is then that Spirit dominates matter. As he frees himself from his yoke, he advances through the proper life and approaches his final destination. If, on the contrary, he lets himself be dominated by matter, he delays and identifies himself with the irrational. In this situation, what was once a good, because it is a necessity of its nature, becomes an evil, not only because it is no longer a necessity, but because it becomes harmful to the spiritualization of the being.. Therefore, evil is relative, and responsibility is proportional to the degree of progress.

All passions have their providential utility, without which God would have done something useless.
and harmful. It is abuse that constitutes evil, and man abuses, according to his free will. Later, enlightened by self-interest, he freely chooses between good and evil.

Postulate. Mesmer's theory and the Spiritist Doctrine affirm that Spirits act on matter only through thought and will:

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.

(KARDEC, [1868] 2018, p. 290)

For Mesmer, there are no fluids, as the science of his time postulated, such as caloric, electric, magnetic, vital fluids, etc. His theory conceived the Universal Cosmic Fluid, whence all matter would be formed and therefore fills everything, as if we were fish, immersed in the ocean ((FIGUEIREDO, Paulo Henrique de. Mesmer – A Ciência Negada do Magnetismo Animal. FEAL, 2022)). The different states of matter would be linked to a different wave state, which is proven by modern physics. Thus, for a Spirit to act on fluid matter, it does not act with its hands or with physical force, but through its will. This is how a Spirit can, through its perispirit, appear in different forms, shaping it as it wishes. However, it can only act on fluid matter. To act on denser matter, something more is necessary: either a body, in which to incarnate, or a body whose control is momentarily ceded by another incarnated Spirit, or, simply, the help of an incarnated, lucid and by his own will.

It is for this principle that a Spirit, as proved in the experiments at the time of Kardec, CANNOT make itself visible, materially, much less tangible, without the existence of a special medium, who provides the "ectoplasm", which would be a species of more animalized spiritual fluid. If it were not so - what is determined by the laws of Nature, or Divine Laws - it would be enough for a Spirit, who wants to do evil, take a knife or a pistol and commit any crime. He can, however, inspire someone to do so, and that person, in accepting the suggestion, has his own responsibility.

Do spirits act on the phenomena of Nature?

At first, we are going to find something that seems incongruous with everything that has been said so far. I make it clear that, in this topic, I am relying on what was born of my understanding, and not entirely on postulates of Spiritism.

First, we have question nº 537 of The Spirits' Book:

537. The mythology of the ancients was based entirely on spiritist ideas, with the only difference being that they considered spirits to be divinities. They represented these gods or these spirits with special attributions. Thus, some were in charge of the winds, others of lightning, others of presiding over the phenomenon of vegetation, etc. Is such a belief without foundation?

“So little is it destitute of foundation, that it is still far from the truth.”

So the Spirits are saying that there are those who govern the phenomena of Nature? It seems so. But, in the first place, we were taught, by Kardec, to accept nothing without passing through the sieve of reason. Now, we know today the forces of nature that cause storms to arise. We know the action of temperature on the winds, the reason for the formation of clouds that generate precipitation and even the reason for the electrical discharge by lightning. These phenomena are so predictable that there are already mathematical computational models that can predict, with a high accuracy rate, when and how much it will rain, and with a few weeks in advance.

So, why should there be Spirits commanding something predictable and that obeys the Laws of Nature?

Proceed to question 538:

538. Do the Spirits who preside over the phenomena of nature form a special category in the spirit world? Are they beings apart, or Spirits who were incarnated like us?

“Which were or will be.”

The) - Do these spirits belong to the higher or lower orders of the spiritist hierarchy?

“That depends on the more or less material, more or less intelligent the role they play. Some command, others execute. Those who perform material things are always of a lower order, both among spirits and among men.”

Thus, it is understood that the higher spirits no they would interact directly on the elements, but leave that to the less developed spirits — which is rational, after all this becomes a learning exercise for them too. Kardec follows, with my emphasis:

539. Is the production of certain phenomena, storms, for example, the work of a single Spirit, or do many come together, forming large masses, to produce them?

“They gather in innumerable masses.”

540. Do the Spirits that exert action in the phenomena of nature operate with knowledge of the cause, using their free will, or by the effect of instinctive or unreflected impulse?

“Some yes, others no. Let's make a comparison. Consider these myriads of animals that, little by little, make islands and archipelagos emerge from the sea. You think that there is no providential end there and that this transformation of the surface of the globe is not necessary for the general harmony? Nonetheless, they are animals of the lowest order that perform these works, providing for their needs and without suspecting that they are instruments of God.. Well, well: in the same way, the most backward spirits offer utility to the whole. While rehearse for life, before they are fully aware of their acts and are in the enjoyment of free will, they act on certain phenomena, of which the agents are unconsciously constituted.. First, execute. Later, when their intelligences have already reached a certain development, they will order and direct the things of the material world. Then they will be able to direct those of the moral world. This is how everything works, how everything is linked together in nature, from the primitive atom to the archangel, who also started with the atom.. Admirable law of harmony, which your timid spirit cannot yet grasp in its entirety.!”

Here we come to something very important. In the answer to question n.º 539, it is clarified that the spirits acting on such phenomena act together in masses. Is not a Spirit, then, that interacts on these phenomena. Since they are masses of Spirits, in question No. 540 Kardec seeks to understand whether these masses are intelligent and rational, acting by their will or not.

Let us first note something important: the Spirit does not use storms to exemplify its response, but uses the example of an island that can be formed by the action of infinite tiny animals, with the action of time, as happens with corals. In question no. 537, Kardec gives several examples of the possibilities of spiritual action, including, among them, winds, lightning and the phenomena of vegetation. The Spirit's answer, limited by several questions, the first being the commitment not to reveal to man what he himself must conclude, by science, was answered in a generic way, and fits well with the phenomena of the last class.

The answer to question #540 demonstrates that inferior beings (from the evolutionary point of view) obey the laws of nature, that is, instinct, blindly, but that, in doing so, they serve a greater purpose. This greater purpose is not fulfilled by miracles or fits, but through the laws of Nature, which are the laws of God, which aim at general harmony. This means that it is not Spirits of any kind that cause a natural disaster, but the consequence, precisely, of Nature. A disaster can happen, for example, by the action of bacteria that slowly corrode the iron of a bridge that, at a certain moment, falls, or by the action of fungi that act in a certain way in a soil of a mountainous region that, saturated then by the rain, become soaked and slide over a whole city.

And here we come to an important point: the simplest living beings, from the cell, the virus and the bacterium, also have a spiritual principle. Estaria explicado, portanto, os Espíritos reunidos em “massas inumeráveis”, governadas pela Natureza, que fazem a harmonia que nosso “acanhado espírito ainda não pode apreender em seu conjunto”.

So, when it is said that Spirits preside over the phenomena of Nature, what is being said is that there are higher Spirits, who, by your influence, govern the lower, linked directly school subjects.

Can a Spirit act directly on matter?

I believe that the issue has been clarified, but to reinforce the concept, let's go back to The Spirits' Book. In the following three questions and in their answers, the principle that Spirits you can not act directly on the matter:

526. Having, as they have, action on matter, can spirits cause certain effects, with the aim of causing an event to occur? For example: a man has to die; climbs a ladder, the ladder breaks and he dies from the fall. Was it the spirits who broke the ladder, so that that man's destiny could be fulfilled?

“It is true that spirits act on matter, but in order to comply with the laws of nature, not to derogate from them, causing, at a given moment, an unexpected event to occur and contrary to those laws. In the example you pictured, the ladder broke because it was rotten, or because it wasn't strong enough to support a man's weight. If it was that man's destiny to perish in such a way, the Spirits would inspire him to climb the ladder in question, which would have to break under his weight, resulting in his death by a natural effect and without being forced to do so. mister the production of a miracle.”

527. Let us take another example, in which matter does not enter its natural state. A man has to die by lightning. Take refuge under a tree. Pops the lightning and kills him. Could it be that it was the Spirits who caused the lightning, directing it towards man?

“It is the same as before. Lightning struck that tree at such a moment because it was in the laws of nature that it should. He was not directed to the tree because the man was under it. To this one, yes, the idea was inspired of taking shelter under a tree on which the lightning would strike, because the tree would not fail to be hit, just because the man was not under its frond.”

528. In the case of a malicious person shooting at another a projectile that only passes close to him without hitting him, could it have happened that a good spirit had deflected the projectile?

“If the individual shot does not have to perish in this way, the kind Spirit will inspire him to deviate, or else he will be able to dazzle the one who is holding the weapon, in order to make him aim badly, because, once the weapon is fired, the projectile follows the line it has to travel.”

Spirits do not derogate from the Laws of Nature by a moral principle, but simply because these Laws are natural and are fulfilled as much as it is fulfilled that, on the surface of any celestial body, when releasing an object, it will fall, due to the law of gravity, with a speed that will depend on the mass of that body (planet, star, etc.).

conclusions

The digression carried out so far served to give a greater basis to another article of my authorship, “Black magic, spells, baths in rock salt and herbs, amulets, Wicca: does it all exist?” (click here to read). Magic, as many imagine, does not exist. Otherwise, we would be subject to being hit, against our will, and no matter how well we are, by any spell. We can, of course, be reached by material means, by the action of the individual's will, supported or not by incarnate Spirits. But, by non-material means, the maximum possible is for a Spirit to interact with fluidic matter, which, in order to identify with ours, depends exclusively on our ostensible permission or our impotence to fight it, as we do not have moral subsidies to so much.

And you, what did you think of all this thinking developed here? Leave your comment below!

Let us not forget that Spiritism has enemies interested in hindering its progress, to whom its triumphs cause spite, not being the most dangerous those who attack it openly, but those who act in the shadows, those who caress it with one of their hands and tear each other apart. These evil beings insinuate themselves wherever they claim to be able to do harm. As they know that unity is a force, they try to destroy it, waving waves of discord. Who, since then, can claim that those who, in meetings, sow disturbance and turmoil are not agents provocateurs, interested in disorder? Undoubtedly, they are neither true nor good spiritists; they will never do good and can do much harm.

KARDEC, Allan. The Mediums' Book.

The enemies of Spiritism have been known for a long time, who, in the open, attack it from all sides and in all ways. There are those of religions, who fight it for preaching the principles of autonomy and free will; those of the materialist sciences, which cannot admit what they cannot see under the apparatus; those in politics, who see, in their ideas, no more than a threat to their hegemony; those of materialist philosophies, etc. These enemies, however, are declared. Worse are those who emerge, through carelessness or malevolence, in the bosom of the Doctrine, among studious men who should do everything for the good of this science.

There are in all areas the “judases” of Spiritism. Kardec met some, the most prominent of which was Roustaing, who, out of pride and vanity, turned against Spiritism. They are Spirits who have not yet managed to understand the essence of the Spiritist Doctrine, who consider it a threatening “religion” and who surreptitiously await the slightest error where they can catch on, creating a true storm in a teapot. For this, they rely on themselves, when incarnated, or on unsuspecting individuals or those who are not fully aware of the true essence of the Doctrine of Spirits, over whom they exert influence due to their ideas attached to vanity and pride.

It does not matter that, in the formation of human spiritist science, there are a thousand consoling, liberating and transforming concepts: a single concept, later seen as false or wrong, born from men's ideas of the time, is enough for them to try to put the Doctrine of Spirits, the ideas of the men who investigated it and the Spiritist Movement, three different things, in the same basket, labeled useless or harmful.

One of those ideas that causes the most rage to the unsuspecting and uninformed man is that of racism in Kardec. Yes, Kardec says, in your conclusions, and moved by the concepts of science of the time, that the black person, referred to by him as the “Hottentot”, the African “savage”, would be a breed materially speaking, where less advanced spirits would incarnate in search of atonement and basic learning. A terrible, racist idea? Yes but only from the current point of view. At that time there was not even the concept of racism, because it was natural, according to science, to classify human beings into races – dozens of them.

Kardec used the scientific concepts and postulates of his time. So it was with fluids, which were later abandoned, so it was with racism. That simple. Starting from this MATERIAL concept of the inferiority of the black race, did he suppose that the Spirits they incarnated were inferior? Why?

Well, let's put ourselves in Kardec's situation: he lived in an ethnocentric society; saw blacks being classified as inferior, by scientific concepts and treated like animals. Hence, he assumed that spirits chose to incarnate black people to atone for their imperfections. This is explicit in “O Negro Pai César”, in the Spiritist Magazine of June 1859. Is there an error in this? If we consider how blacks were treated and classified by science and society, which imposed heavy suffering on them, then it is not easy to assume that some Spirits chose a life like that, just as a Spirit chose to be buried alive, thinking that they would have to pay a past mistake?

A certain author puts it like this: “It is still recurring spiritist centers that do not accept or accept with reservations communications from pretos Velhos, Indians and other spirits that present themselves in an unconventional way as trustworthy”. Now, it is still recurrent, in Spiritist centers, to go up to the tribunes to teach concepts of karma and the law of return or even talk about “fluid water” and “the phone only rings from there to here”. And this happens for the same reason that leads this Spiritist Movement to not accept such communications: the lack of doctrinal and scientific studies. Let's not confuse the Spiritist Movement with Spiritism. They are different things, just as the human aspect and the spiritist aspect of the Doctrine are distinct.

I remember that the same Kardec who was guided by science to classify blacks (and also other peoples) in such a way, made an effort to demonstrate that, “in spite of anything” (in the context of these opinions), they should be treated with respect and dignity. This the author forgot to mention:

829. Are there men who are by nature destined to be the property of other men?

“It is contrary to the law of God every absolute subjection of one man to another man. Slavery is an abuse of force. It disappears with progress, as all abuses will gradually disappear.”

The human law that enshrines slavery is contrary to nature, since it makes man the irrational and degrades him physically and morally (note by Allan Kardec)

831. Does not the natural inequality of aptitudes place certain human races under the dependence of the more intelligent races?

“Yes, but for them to elevate them, not to further brutalize them through enslavement. For a long time, men considered certain human races as working animals, equipped with arms and hands, and thought they had the right to sell those of those races as beasts of burden. Those who do so are considered to be of purer blood. fools! They see nothing but matter. More or less pure is not the blood, but the Spirit.” (361–803.)

This same Kardec also made an effort to bring women to the same level of dignity and rights, as in the RE of January 1866 and in questions 817 to 821 of OLE. Still, in the same issue of the Magazine, he undoes, through Spiritist principles, the prejudices that give rise to homophobia:

“If this influence of the corporeal life has repercussions on the spiritual life, the same happens when the Spirit passes from the spiritual to the corporeal life. In a new incarnation he will bring the character and inclinations he had as a Spirit; if he is advanced, he will be an advanced man; if he is late, he will be a late man.

By changing his sex, he will therefore be able, under this impression and in his new incarnation, to retain the tastes, tendencies and character inherent in the sex he has just left. That's how they explain certain apparent anomalies which are seen in the character of certain men and women.”

Therefore, there is only difference between man and woman in relation to the material organism, which is annihilated with the death of the body. But as for the Spirit, the soul, the essential, imperishable being, it does not exist, because there are not two kinds of souls.

Allan Kardec, RE, Jan/1866

 And then Paulo Henrique highlights the use of scientific concepts of the time, again, by Kardec, to explain the term “apparent anomaly”:

It is very important to highlight here that the term “apparent anomaly”, used by Kardec, was present in the sciences of the time, referring to phenomena that escape the explanation of accepted theories, not being “normal” for them; but that, when a new natural explanation for the phenomenon is found in new theories, they cease to be “anomalies” and become natural phenomena. That's why she's "apparent"

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, Spiritist Revolution website, 08/25/2016

It was already a big step, for a man of that time, to have given soul to a people treated like a machine. But, we know, the march of progress advances and, as Kardec always said, we should always follow scientific advances, abandoning the opinion that proves to be wrong in the face of science. That's what we do here and that's what Allan Kardec would do if he were incarnated among us today. I disagree that there is a “lapse” of character in Kardec, as he demonstrated the opposite, all the time. There are concepts of the time, of a man deeply connected to the sciences.

The same author goes on to say that “In addition, it was very common for wealthy families to have black servants for all types of work. So, Kardec not only saw black people, but he had the opportunity to meet, talk and learn about African societies, as the black presence in France was common”, on which I make the following observations:

First, the reference given to the first statement — McCloy, Shelby T. Negroes and Mulattoes in Eighteenth-Century France. The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1945), pp. 276-292 — brings references only from the late 18th century. Rivail, having been born in 1804, would reach maturity only around 1816 at the earliest. There are 16 years of possible changes, and we cannot forget that France was a colonialist country and that, therefore, it sent most blacks to its colonies.

Second, the second statement lacks logic. Kardec was educated primarily in Yverdon, by Pestalozzi, where, at the age of 14, he taught other students. Afterwards, he lived, as far as we know, mostly among scientific and educational circles, dominated, of course, by the white man. Could it be that Kardec had so many opportunities to live with black people? Now, knowing Rivail's common sense, it is to be assumed that NO, otherwise he would have a different opinion in this regard.

And it remains to remember that the Spirits DO NOT advance the science that it is up to man to acquire, through his own efforts and intelligence. In the same way that the Spirits did not deny the false concepts of fluids (electrical, vital, etc.), abandoned by Kardec in A Genesis, to stay only with the theory of the Universal Cosmic Fluid, they also did not deny the human thesis of races, which only came to be overcome about a century later.

I cannot understand and agree with a text that, in a way, analyzes the subject in a partial way. It is not a question of minimizing the fact, but of presenting it in full. It happens that a person who does not know the facts completely, reads a criticism like this one, which puts, in the same basket, Doctrine, Kardec and the Spiritist Movement, and concludes: “Spiritism really sucks”. And that, my friends, is a great disservice to the Doctrine, so that, even today, many black people and followers of Afro religions still express resentment, prejudice and distancing from the spiritist science. Far from attracting, such opinions continue to drive them away.

We all go through the evolutionary process through incarnations. All, without exception. During this process, because of our choices, we can develop good habits or bad habits. The former become virtues, which bring us closer to happiness, while the latter become imperfections, which distance us from happiness and, therefore, prolong our sufferings.

“All men experience passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence of their previous existences, having freed themselves from this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they achieve it, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without needing to spell. It is as if there were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still convalescing and hesitates to walk; or like two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.”

KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis. 4th edition (original), FEAL

Bad habits are of two types: moral and material (which, deep down, always have something moral, that is, the will of the Spirit). Bad moral habits are those easily recognized as avarice, jealousy, vanity, selfishness, pride, etc., the last two of which can be understood as the parents of all others. Bad material habits, on the other hand, are those such as addictions to drugs or the exaggeration of certain animal instincts, such as gluttony, addiction to sex, etc.

Both are very difficult to combat, now installed. Often, they require multiple incarnations and, not infrequently, we find ourselves in the condition of the one who you see where he goes wrong and the suffering it causes him, but who says: “he is stronger than me”. Commonly, in this condition, which is already the beginning of something very important, through simple recognition, we are going to look for different external ways of dealing with these bad habits, whether religious or philosophical, or medicinal. We look for hospitalizations, drugs that aim to combat certain aspects, religions that will commonly classify as sin or that will say that we need to change in a hurry, because “Jesus awaits us”. None of this, however, manages to change what is at the bottom of our souls, except with rare exceptions. It is that, in all this, a fundamental key is missing: the will.

Let's see: all external artifices can, of course, help a lot in the process of overcoming. Prayer or prayer, medication, external practices, in short, everything is a tool, but I am here to say that nothing will change unless the individual acquires the firm will to win. And this is a process, very greatly aided by reason. Spiritism, when it shows us that joy and sadness, pleasure and pain are purely material and transient conditions, but that true happiness lies in getting rid of the conditions that force us to continue incarnating in such brutal conditions, living under the fruit of our own imperfections, tells us: everyone will reach the heavens, but it depends only on each one When it will happen.

By understanding this aspect, we can begin to see life differently. Every difficult situation and every opportunity becomes a learning device. We start to face difficulties with different eyes and become more attentive to the opportunities to which the good Spirits lead us, as long as we have the will.

Still, winning seems something very distant and difficult. Many will say: the flesh is weak. Well, we really can't assume that overnight we will overcome a bad habit that is deeply ingrained in our minds. This is the first fundamental understanding. It is necessary to adopt reason and will to develop better habits, being who of them is the habit of learning to say “not today”. Let's learn to design our future: why do we want to get rid of one imperfection or more? Because we wish we didn't need to go through more lives in the same condition. Who knows, the transformation may be so great that, at the end of this incarnation, we can conquer the possibility of incarnating in slightly happier worlds? Even more: those who know the transformation may, albeit slowly, take place in such a profound way that we can, day after day, find a growing happiness in our hearts, in the face of the realization that we have learned to deal a little better with difficulties and bad habits?

This should be enough to provoke us with firm intentions for change, in the concrete hope of a better tomorrow for ourselves.

Therefore, when we struggle with our imperfections, let us learn to watch our thoughts, moving away, that is, not even thinking, about what leads us to the stumbling processes. And if today we were not strong enough and we stumbled, let's not say: "I can't, I'm not strong", but rather "I'm not perfect and I still haven't been able to overcome", analyzing where the mistake happened and remaining firm in the purpose of change. . We just can't take this principle as an excuse.

Dear reader, know and never forget: if you already notice an imperfection, this is the beginning of your change. Strengthen your will and know that, through it, you will never be abandoned. The friendly spirits themselves will lead you to the opportunities that you will have to accept or not. It's a good book that arrives in due course, it's a word from a friend, it's an article like this, designed to move you. Be aware of bad suggestions, however, which will continue to come from spirits accustomed to disturbance, and build up your strength in study and prayer, always seeking to reform yourself. The other things, such as doing good, studying the gospel, psychological counseling, are, yes, very important, but it depends on you, and only you, wish to achieve happiness.

Remember, after all, that Jesus, nailed to the cross, listening to the repentance and pleas for forgiveness of the thief nailed to the cross next to him, replied: “today you will be with me in paradise”. “Being with Jesus in paradise” means saying that the thief, having repented and found the will change, entered a new learning phase. It was not Jesus who saved him, but himself. Think about it.

We recommend watching the study below. Talk deeply about it:

It is a false concept, although widespread, to say that there is a plan in everything. If so, we would not have free will.

When it is said that even a leaf that falls is under the will of God, it means to say that everything is under his Laws, which are perfect. However, there is no direct effect of the will of God that determines that, at that moment, the leaf will fall or not fall.

Well then: we, as Spirits, before entering the realm of conscience and choice, are guided solely by instinct. It is he who guides us, for example, when we are animals: hunger makes us look for food, anger helps us to kill the animal that will serve as food and fear keeps us away from dangerous conditions. When we are an animal outside the top of the chain, many times we are killed to serve as food for another animal (see: there is no harm in that, but good, because we are following the Law of God). After death, the Spirit of the animal, which still lacks self-awareness and the ability to choose and, therefore, does not suffer morally, is very quickly reused in another animal that is born.

After entering the realm of free will, we progressively choose our lives, planning them in general terms. If I was very attached to jealousy, which causes me difficulties and suffering, once we understand this, we choose a way of life that will provide us with possibilities to deal with this imperfection. Friendly spirits participate in this planning who, throughout life, help us, influencing us, inspiring us and often leading us to situations that may be useful to ourselves.

All this was necessary to highlight: we are Spirits living incarnations in dense matter. We are therefore subject to spiritual laws and the laws of matter. The latter make us exposed to the conditions of matter, such as, for example, a torrential rain that causes a commotion in a mountain, that comes down on the houses, a volcano that explodes, an earthquake that generates a devastating tsunami or, still, a comet that hits the planet and destroys it completely. The idea of “collective karma”, therefore, is FALSE (in fact, the idea of karma, as we know it, is false).

From another point of view, we are also subject to the choices of other incarnate Spirits. See: God and the superior spirits respect the free will and time of men. This is why there is no divine interruption of a war, nor of a small-scale crime. Of course, good spirits try to dissuade bad choices through their influences, but in the end, man is the one who chooses to listen to them (or to his own conscience) or not. On the other hand, a person who is leading himself into a situation where he becomes a victim may also try to be inspired, if possible, to deviate from it. How many individuals escape accidents and crimes because of a dream or an insistent thought, or even through an event that causes them to get in the way?

Of course, this is not a concession to special people. We all have good spirits who love us, without exception, but we are often too far away from their influences or turn a deaf ear to their suggestions.

One more logical observation that we make is that when a person dies from a crime, he is NEVER “paying” for something from the past (but he may, of course, have been the victim of his own carelessness, when, for example, he gets into a criminal or dangerous environment of their own volition).

Finally, we arrive at the realization: the genre and the time of death can, yes, be planned before the incarnation of the Spirit, but the course of life can, of course, change this planning. There is no predetermined destiny, because if there were, we would be mere puppets in the theater of life. We can change our plans – and we often do. We can even create a disease, by our actions, that kills us sooner than planned, and we can also get rid of a disease or condition that would take us at a young age, if a series of conditions allow (and it is NOT part of these conditions what they call of "deserving".

Think of that person who crosses the street without looking: it is not a Spirit that impels him to such an act, but his own carelessness, a bad habit. Through this bad habit, he may, at any moment, encounter a car speeding along or a driver looking the other way, and he may crash and die. Think, too, of the parachutist who jumps out of an airplane, putting his life on a parachute. Instinct tells him to be afraid to do it, but his will, the fruit of choice, falsifies that instinct, and he, anyway, launches himself. If the parachute fails and he dies, it was not God who wanted it that way, nor a Spirit who spoiled the parachute, but the laws of matter themselves.

We believe that this thought was clear, but we close by highlighting what Kardec presents in Practical instructions on spiritist manifestations:

FATALITY — from Latin. fatalites, in fatum, destiny. Inevitable fate. A doctrine that supposes that all the events of life and, by extension, all our acts, are predestined and subject to a law from which we cannot escape. There are two kinds of fatality: one arising from external causes, which can affect us and react on us; we could call it reactive, exterior, eventual fatality; the other, which originates in ourselves, determines all our actions; it is personal fatality. In the absolute sense of the word, fatality transforms man into a machine, without initiative or free will and, consequently, without responsibility. It is the negation of all morality.

According to the spiritist doctrine, by choosing its new existence, the Spirit practices an act of freedom. The events of life are the consequence of choice and are related to the social position of existence. If the spirit must be reborn in a servile condition, the environment in which it finds itself will create events very different from those that would present itself if it had to be rich and powerful. But whatever that condition may be, he retains free will in all the acts of his will, and he will not be fatally drawn to do this or that, nor to suffer this or that accident. Due to the chosen type of struggle, he has the possibility of being led to certain acts or encountering certain obstacles, but it is not said that this must happen infallibly, or that he cannot avoid it through his prudence and his will. That's why God gives you the ability to reason. It is the same as if you were a man who, in order to reach a goal, had three paths to choose from: the mountain, the plain or the sea. In the first, the possibility of finding rocks and precipices; in the second swamps; in the third, storms. But it is not said that it will be crushed by a stone, that it will get stuck in the marsh, or that it will be shipwrecked here and not there. The choice of path itself is not fatal, in the absolute sense of the word: man will instinctively take the path in which he must find the chosen test. If you have to fight the waves, your instinct will not lead you to take the mountain path.

According to the type of tests chosen by the Spirit, man is exposed to certain vicissitudes. As a result of these same vicissitudes, he is subjected to drags from which he must escape. He who commits a crime is not fatally driven to commit it: he has chosen a path of struggle that can excite him to it; if you yield to temptation, it is through weakness of your will. Thus, free will exists for the Spirit in the errant state, in the choice it makes of the tests to which it must submit, and it exists in the condition of being incarnated in the acts of corporeal life. Only the moment of death is fatal: because the kind of death is still a consequence of the nature of the tests chosen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uF6VAEmXPI

In this article, Kardec leads us to think about the evil that exists in fear and how it can affect us. 

The case: a man had left a very expensive bottle of liquor in a carriage and, fearing that he would be drunk, went to the parking lot manager, to whom he said the bottle contained poison. When he had just returned to his apartment, he was hurriedly sought out: three coachmen were suffering from terrible stomach pains. With effort, he convinced them of his rudeness.

Can the case be explained simply by the power of suggestion? Kardec says, initially, that it could not be an action of magnetism, as it was not the case, and then questions São Luís:

─ Your reasoning is very fair in relation to imagination. But the malevolent spirits who induced those men to commit an impolite act, cause a shiver of fear to pass through their blood, through matter, that you could well call magnetic shiver, which stretches the nerves and produces a cold in certain regions of the body. You well know that any cold in the abdominal region can produce colic. It is, therefore, a means of punishment that amuses the spirits who provoked carrying out the theft and at the same time making them laugh at the expense of those to whom they sin [language neologism, to make himself understood, since S. Luís himself speaks of autonomy, between the lines].

Sao Luis, RE 1858

Comment: when talking about induction it cannot, in any way, replace the responsibility that the incarnate has to accept these suggestions.

Comment: Magnetic Shiver: since magnetism is an action of the will on the perispirit, which reflects on matter, we understand this term well.

Observation: THE punishment it is in the following sense: God “places” us to live among Spirits as imperfect as we are, or more. This contact is an ordeal of our imperfections, learning from it as they learn from us.

“They do so whenever an opportunity is offered to them, which they even seek, for their satisfaction. We can avoid this, I assure you, by raising ourselves to God by thoughts less material than those that occupied the minds of those men. Evil spirits like to have fun. Watch out for them! He who thinks he is saying a pleasant phrase to the people around him and who amuses a society with jokes and acts, is sometimes wrong, and even often, when he thinks that all this comes from himself.. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him in such a way that little by little they deceive him about his thoughts, also deceiving those who listen to him. In that case, you think you are dealing with a man of spirit, who, however, is only an ignorant. Think carefully, and you will understand what I say to you. Superior spirits are not, however, enemies of joy. Sometimes they like to laugh to make themselves nice to you. But everything has its opportune moment.”

Idem

KARDEC NOTE: “Saying that in the reported case there was no emission of magnetic fluid, perhaps we were not being very accurate. Here we venture a guess. As we said, it is known that transformations of the properties of matter can be operated under the action of the fmagnetic liquid driven by thought. Now, it is not possible to admit that, by the thought of the doctor who wanted to make believe in the existence of a toxic and give thieves the anguish of poisoning, there had been a kind of magnetization of the liquid at a distance, which would have acquired new properties, whose action would have been corroborated by the moral state of individuals whom fear had made impressionable? This theory would not destroy St. Louis's on the intervention of frivolous spirits in similar circumstances. We know that spirits act physically by physical means; they can therefore, in order to carry out certain designs, make use of those which they themselves provoke and which we inadvertently provide them with..”

Comment: Kardec is speaking in the following sense: through suggestion, Spirits can obtain physical results, through those who perform them. It is clear that, in order to act directly on matter, the existence of a medium with such capacities is necessary.

Doubts: Here, we raise a question: if we can saturate an object with our perispiritual fluid, by the action of our will, why can't a Spirit do it? Because the Spirit cannot act on matter directly, nor with his perispirit. He needs matter or an intermediary medium of physical effects.

Doubts: Could we explain the phenomenon, also, only by autosuggestion, not as an effect of the imagination, but as a patent effect of the individual himself on his perispirit? Yes we can, like the placebo effect.