The article “a new photographic discovery”, in the Revista Espírita of July 1858, opened the way to remember this fact well known in the spiritist milieu.

That name was given to the sad case of the process brought against Mr. Pierre-Gaëtan Leymarie and Messrs. Buguet and Firman, in 1875, after they began to publish supposed spiritual photographs in Revista Espírita.

For some, the process was based on false accusations that this gentleman was publishing fraudulent photographs of disembodied spirits (see “Process of Spiritists”, by Marina Leymarie).

For others, the fraud was real and well documented. He quotes Simoni Privato, in his work Allan Kardec's Legacy, that Leymarie did not take the proper care that the master himself would have taken care of, so that he subjected himself to supporting clearly controversial practices, among them the promotion, in RE, of mediumistic sessions paid which the medium Alfred Henry Firman performed twice a week.

He quotes Simoni Privato, in The Legacy of Allan Kardec:

“On learning that the photographer Édouard Buguet was obtaining photographs of spirits in Paris, Leymarie, together with a group of people, investigated these phenomena at the end of 1873. At that time, Leymarie was the sole administrator and the representative of all members of the Anonymous Society, as well as managing secretary and editor of Revista Espírita.”

“Leymarie began to advertise, in the Spiritist Magazine, Buguet's photographic work. He presented the photographer as “an artist without pretensions, full of amiability, who greatly appreciates his faculty for what it is, that is, a pure and simple act of mediumship”. He also informed the conditions that the interested parties had to fulfill to carry out the experiments with Buguet and the price of the service. In short, Leymarie publicly supported and encouraged, in the Revista Espírita, the paid mediumship”.

In this article, Kardec brings a very peculiar case: after the death of a man, Mr. Badet, who was in the habit of watching the street from his window, some people began to notice his image printed on the glass – a phenomenon hitherto unknown.

Presenting the fact to the family, the latter promptly destroyed that window, closing, perhaps, a very opportune possibility of studies.

Kardec, seeing the opportunity for learning by the Spirit himself, makes his evocation. This gives some important information:

• The phenomenon was true, but involuntary. It was produced through physical agents that until then were unknown - and we believe that they still are - that, acting on the perispirit, printed your image on the windowpane.
• Responding to Kardec's question about the possibility of revealing the factors that produced such a phenomenon, he replies: “I would like to, but this is a task for others spirits and human work”
• While the assistants discussed some hypotheses, Mr. Badet spontaneously communicated:

  “And do you not take into account electricity and electroplating, which also act on the perispirit?”

-The fact that the glass was destroyed by the family causes Kardec to express the following expression, with which the article ends:

Such a curious monument would have facilitated research and observations for the proper study of the issue. Perhaps they saw in this image an art of the devil. In any case, if somehow the devil is involved in this, it is surely in the destruction of glass, because he is the enemy of progress.

We can imagine how outraged Kardec felt at such events.

Kardec starts the month with a moral dissertation, this time through “Mr. D.”¹, a medium that, to date, we have not been able to identify.

The observations that the professor makes about this medium are interesting, because, he emphasizes, he was just beginning the development of his mediumship and, therefore, doubted some of your capabilities.

Having Mr. D. expressed his willingness to mediate a communication from São Luis, he was promptly answered, not as a way of proving anything, but because the request was genuine and sincere, with no ulterior motives. He just doubted himself.

“Today, Mr. D… is one of the most complete mediums, not only because of his great ability to act, but also because of his ability to serve as an interpreter for all spirits, even those of the highest categories, who through him express themselves easily and willingly.”

“These are, above all, the qualities that we should look for in mediums and that can always be acquired with patience, will and exercise. Mr. D… didn't need much patience; had the will and the fervor, combined with natural aptitude. A few days were enough to take his college to the highest degree.”

And it follows with the presentation of the moral dissertation, from which we highlight the following excerpt:

“He struggles in his impotence, victim of the horrible torture of envy, happy even if these disastrous ideas do not lead him to the edge of an abyss. Entering this path, he asks himself whether he should not obtain by violence what he thinks is his due; otherwise he will expose to the eyes of all the terrible evil that devours him. If this wretch had only looked down from his position, he would have seen the number of those who suffer without a lament and still bless the Creator, because misfortune is a benefit that God uses to make the poor creature advance to his eternal throne. .”

Comments

Let's see the space that Kardec gave to the contents of moral background, without taking space from the main aspect of Spiritism, which was scientific research for the uninterrupted formation of an entire Doctrine.

Today, unfortunately, the opposite is done. Spiritism has become just moral, spiritist centers are limited to lectures and passes and we have reached the height of hearing opinions such as “at this moment, we need to put aside even the assistance meetings for the Spirits, because what matters most is our change urgent in order not to lose the right to continue reincarnating on Earth, which is entering a new era”.

1. Alfred Jean Baptiste Didier?

This medium was very active in the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies - SPEE, being widely used by Lamennais. After leaving the Society in 1865, he devoted himself to painting

In this letter, a subscriber to Revista Espírita says that about 18 months ago they evoked in their small inner circle an ancient ancestor, who died in 1756, virtuous and superior.  

This Spirit told them that he was incarnated in Jupiter and reproduced the same details that Mozart (and others) also described to Kardec, both physically and morally, and even about the condition of the animals.  

As there were things that we had difficulty understanding, our kinsman added these remarkable words: “No wonder you do not understand things for which your senses were not made, but as you advance in Science, you will understand them better. by thought and they will no longer seem extraordinary to you. The time is not far off when you will receive more complete clarifications on this point.. The Spirits are in charge of instructing you in this regard, in order to give you an objective and to motivate you for good.” Reading your description and the announcement of the drawings you speak of, we naturally thought that the time had come.

Mr. Marius continues to make observations about the moral conclusions they drew from these communications, and for them the need to elevate themselves by self-improvement has become very important so that they can deserve to live, one day, in such a place. It also talks about skeptics, who would never believe such reports.  

We get an idea of countries that we have never seen, from the description of travelers, when there is a coincidence between them. Why shouldn't the same be true of spirits?  

Why should we not or should we not, therefore, believe the various more current accounts that exist regarding “spiritual cities”? Let's talk about that now.

 In response, Kardec says:

We are happy for the communication it promises us about Jupiter. The coincidence that he points out is not the only one, as we can see in the article on the subject. However, whatever opinion one may have about it, it is still a matter of observation. The spirit world is full of mysteries that must be studied very carefully.. The moral consequences that our correspondent draws from this are characterized by a logic that no one will go unnoticed.    

About the drawings, of which Mr. Marius requested a print, Kardec says it would be too complicated and expensive to reproduce them. He says, however, that the matter was in solution, because the drawing medium, Mr. Sardou, had become an engraving medium, starting to make drawings directly on copper!

conclusions

If Kardec and his correspondent, among many others, presented reports of diaphanous cities in Jupiter, why, then, we could not accept the reports about the most diverse types of places on the spiritual plane, as other more current accounts attest?    

Well, here we have some issues to consider. The first is that, at the time of Kardec, due to the enormous difficulty of communication between distances, the reports that were obtained in different parts of Europe and the Americas could be more easily accepted without the shadow of preconceived or "contaminated" ideas. .    

Furthermore, we need to consider what is very evident in all of Kardec's work: the importance of Universal Concordance in the Teaching of Spirits.

Another problem to be highlighted is that the reports of Jupiter speak of a planet, where there is a civilization of Spirits incarnate, although in matters much more subtle than ours, and the molecular structures general respects the same characteristics of subtlety.    

On the other hand, reports such as those of André Luiz, among many others, make us understand that such cities would be located in the wandering space, that is, the Spirits between the incarnations would create and use these cities. This is not at all impossible, although some details of these accounts do not seem to make much sense. However…    

is something from which never before no Spirit had spoken. In fact, the reports of wandering spirits point to the opposite: that only very materialistic spirits would cling to such concepts and “places”.

The big issue here, therefore, is just to highlight the care that we must have. We must not discard or accept an idea or concept that has not passed through CUEE. And here, there is a lesson in general, because, along with such ideas, controversial, complicated and, sometimes, even contrary to the Doctrine are often transmitted.

We remember that Ramatis (supposedly) also ventured to give such types of descriptions, in the case of Mars. However, it was an isolated communication, with strange and superfluous details, besides many of them having already been denied by human Science.

Today, the easy dissemination of certain ideas makes the “contamination” of communications very easy, not least because mechanical psychographers seem to be in short supply and, as such mediums were commonly placed in a state of “hypnotic trance”, magnetism also needs to be re-established. studied, understood and practiced.  

Therefore, to investigate these important issues, it will be necessary to take a different path, with even more scientific rigor than that already used by Kardec.    

The way is still long.

 In this section some matches of interest are presented. The first of these is a letter from Mr. Jobard (Marcellin Jobard), a true proclamation of his beliefs in Spiritism:

I eagerly receive and read your Spiritist Magazine and recommend it to my friends, not the simple reading, but the in-depth study of your Spirits' Book. I am very sorry that my physical concerns do not leave me time for metaphysical studies, although I have taken them far enough to feel how much you are close to the absolute truth, especially when I see the perfect coincidence that exists between the answers they give us – you and me. The very spirits who personally attribute to you the writing of your writings are stunned by the depth and logic they find there..

Marcellin Jobard (May 17, 1792, Baissey – October 27, 1861, Brussels) was a Belgian lithographer, photographer and inventor of French origin.

Founder of Belgium's first major lithography establishment, first Belgian photographer, director of the Museum of Industry in Brussels from 1841 to 1861, Marcellin Jobard played a role today little known in the artistic, scientific and industrial development of Belgium during the 19th century.

Kardec presents a communication of this Spirit (after his death, in 1861) in Heaven and Hell – Second Part – Chapter II – Happy Spirits » Mr. Jobard

As for me, who know the phenomenon and your loyalty, I do not doubt the accuracy of the explanations given to you and I abjure all the ideas I published about it, when, with Mr. Babinet, I thought that there were only physical phenomena or antics unworthy of the attention of the sages.

Do not be discouraged, as I am not discouraged, by the indifference of your contemporaries. What is written is written; what is sown will germinate. The idea that life is an attunement of souls, a test and an atonement, is great, consoling, progressive and natural.

In response, Kardec praises Mr. Jobard, being such a recognized man, asks him about the possibility of publishing his “adherence” to the Spiritist Magazine.    

It is important, first, to note Kardec's nature: The compliments contained in Mr. Jobard would have made it impossible for us to publish it if they had been addressed to us personally.    

In response, Jobard would have said he was “humiliated” by Kardec's questions, as if he felt compared to fools. However, consciously informing himself of the difficulties of the supporters of new ideas, he reaffirms his decisions, making an interesting and profound digression.

About magnetism, more than forty years ago, I made this simple reasoning: It is impossible for such worthy men to write thousands of volumes to make me believe in the existence of a non-existent thing.. So I experimented for a long time, but in vain, while I had no faith in obtaining what I sought. I was, however, well rewarded for my perseverance, for I succeeded in producing all the phenomena of which I heard. Then I took a break of fifteen years. The tables had appeared and I wanted to get a clear idea. Today Spiritism appears and I act in the same way.

When something new comes along, I'll run with the same zeal I use to keep up with all modern discoveries. It is curiosity that drives me, and I regret that savages are not curious, for they remain savages. Curiosity is the mother of instruction.

I know perfectly well that this fever to learn has hurt me a lot. and that if I had remained in that respectable mediocrity that leads to honors and fortune, I would have taken my share, but long ago I said, to myself, that I thought I was just passing through this ordinary hostel, where it's not worth packing. What made me painlessly bear the adversities, injustices and robberies of which I was a privileged victim, was the idea that there is no happiness or misfortune here that is worthy of being happy or grieving.

I saw it evoke a living person. She had a syncope until her Spirit returned. Evoke me, to see what I will say to you. Also invoke Dr. Muhr, died in Cairo on 4 June. He was a great spiritist and homeopathic physician. Ask him if he still believes in gnomes. It is certainly in Jupiter, for it was a great Spirit, even here on Earth; a true prophet to teach, and my best friend. Is he happy with the obituary I wrote him?    

Note: Kardec makes the evocation and presents it in the November 1858 edition

The study of the Revista Espírita of July 1858 gave us space for an important aside, regarding Psychography. We talked about the following topics at our meeting, as you can see below.

In The Mediums' Book    

178. Of all the media, handwriting is the simplest, most comfortable and, above all, most complete. All efforts must be directed towards it, as it allows for the establishment, with the spirits, of relationships as continuous and regular as those that exist between us.. It should be used all the more diligently, as it is through it that spirits better reveal their nature and the degree of their improvement, or their inferiority. Because of the ease they find in expressing themselves in this way, they reveal their innermost thoughts to us and allow us to judge them and appreciate their value. For the medium, the faculty of writing is, moreover, the one most susceptible to being developed through the exercise of the medium..

Mechanical Mediums

They are those whose movement of a pencil, pen or even hands on a keyboard takes place independently at will. The movement is uninterrupted and the medium is not aware of what he writes.    

179. […] When absolute unconsciousness occurs, there are so-called passive or mechanical mediums. This faculty is precious, as it does not allow any doubt about the independence of the writer's thought.

Intuitive Mediums    

They are those who write under the influence of the Spirit, being aware of what they write.    

180. […] it is possible to recognize the suggested thought, as it is never preconceived; it is born as the writing is being traced and, often, it is contrary to the idea that was formed in advance. It may even be outside the limits of the medium's knowledge and abilities.

Semimechanical Mediums

181. In the purely mechanical medium, the movement of the hand is independent of the will; in the intuitive medium, the movement is voluntary and optional. The semi-mechanical medium participates in both these genres. He feels that his hand is given an impulse, despite his own will, but, at the same time, he is aware of what he is writing, as the words are formed. In the first, thought comes after the act of writing; in the second, it precedes it; in the third, it accompanies him. These latter mediums are the most numerous.

Inspired Mediums    

They are those who write consciously, but whose content origin is from contact with other Spirits. They are like intuitives, with the difference that the intervention of an occult force is much less sensitive there. In this case, it is much more difficult to distinguish one's own thought than the one suggested to it.    

182. […] It can be said that all are mediums, because there is no one who does not have their protective and family spirits, who strive to suggest healthy ideas to the protected ones.

If everyone were well aware of this truth, no one would fail to frequently resort to the inspiration of their guardian angel, in moments when they don't know what to say or do. Let each one, therefore, invoke it with fervor and confidence, in case of need, and very often he will be astonished at the ideas that come to him as if by magic, whether it be a matter of a resolution to be made or something to compose. If no idea comes up, it's just that you have to wait.

Foreboding Mediums

184. Foreboding is a vague intuition of things to come. Some people have this faculty more or less developed. It may be due to a kind of double vision, which allows them to glimpse the consequences of current things and the filiation of events. But it is often also the result of occult communications, and above all in this case those who are endowed with it can be called psychic mediums, which constitute a variety of inspired mediums.

278. An important question arises here, whether or not there is any inconvenience in evoking bad spirits.  That depends on the end one has in view and the ascendancy one can exert over them. The inconvenience is null, when they are called with 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 no. 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 the energy of the will, 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.. (No. 278.)

We have the general forgetfulness of the past life for a very important reason: so that the past, known objectively, in its details, does not get in the way of our walk. See: it is convenient for Spirits of our evolution, for example, not to remember that we did harm to the family member who helps us today, which could hinder our learning.

However, this oblivion is not total. We are not a blank page in each incarnation. We have, in each of them, a more or less new, different personality, shaped according to the creation of the family and the customs of the society in which we are inserted, but our true “I” is demonstrating its virtues and its imperfections from the first steps. from childhood.

At the heart of our Spirit, so to speak, is what we really are – in fact, this is what attracts or repels good or bad Spirits, and that is why a merely superficial modification (let alone rituals) does not drives them away or attracts them. During life, we often wear a mask of pride and vanity, which aims to hide, from ourselves and from others, our true face - especially with regard to moral imperfections. We get distracted by mundane things, not having much courage to face our inner selves. However, this is precisely what Spiritism calls attention to, repeating and expanding the teachings of Jesus: we need to put aside this mask, learning to look inside ourselves with the hard and judgmental look we keep to look at the defects of others. .

When we do this, we almost always discover – which can be greatly helped by a psychologist – a set of imperfections, many of them linked to the cultivation of passions. Whoever takes this step, far from feeling guilty, should feel happy for the bravery of coldly analyzing himself. With this, we must start to lead ourselves without fading, but calmly, step by step, on the path of moving away from these imperfections, developing better virtues.

This, in itself, which even makes me shiver to think about, constitutes a whole philosophy capable of completely modifying the directions of a Spirit that feels tired of suffering for its imperfections, and, in itself, this represents the essence of Spiritism, and not any concepts of sin and punishment, since guilt and punishment live only in our minds.

We leave the indication of the following video, from the study group Spiritism for All, with a deep digression in this regard:

Perhaps many spiritists have it, in the same way that many Umbandistas do, in relation to Spiritism, and in the same way that practically every human being can have prejudices. Pointing out and defining “sides” is definitely something that doesn’t help much with human progress. In any case, I would like to take this opportunity to remember the following: Firstly,…

Firstly, it is necessary to separate what Spiritism is from what the “Spiritist Movement” is. The first is a solid and scientific, rational doctrine, based on the agreed teaching of the Spirits, given everywhere and for all times. The second is the group of people who consider themselves attracted by the ideas of this Doctrine and who, however, do not always act in accordance with its postulates – unfortunately this is what most happens nowadays.

Spiritism, as a Scientific Doctrine, does not force anything on anyone: it presents its conclusions and leaves everyone the freedom to accept them or not. However, many people, called spiritualists, even though they are aware of the existence of this Doctrine, choose not to inform themselves about it, judging the book by its cover, that is, acting prejudiced about it, saying that it is just another religion, or that it is just another opinion, or that The Spirits' Book – the basic work of this Doctrine – is just another book, written by Kardec, according to his own ideas.

How many people get into difficulties with regard to contact with the Spirits, and who, when invited to study the Spiritist Doctrine (which is called that because it belongs to the Spirits, and not to a single man or group) prefer to continue in their old conceptions, resisting to seek new knowledge?

It is said that Umbanda was born from a split within a Spiritist center, when the participants of that group did not accept the communication of an “old black man” in that environment. Now, if it is true, they are no less culpable than other individuals, who insist on considering the basis of Spiritist Science as a “dead and outdated letter”.

From all of this, there is a lesson to be learned: to understand Spiritism, being it a science, born, in fact, as a development of Rational Spiritualism, which was also a scientific doctrine that included the study of psychology, metaphysics and morals, one cannot do without the study of his basic works, as well as, in order to understand Physics, he does not do without the study of Isaac Newton and Einstein. Just as Physics presents its postulates, but many people insist on ignoring it to say that the gravitational force does not exist, the same is done about Spiritism, which is not a “higher religion”, where the “only truths” exist. , but that is, yes, the only Scientific Doctrine, until today, dedicated to the rational study of our relations with the Spirits.

In fact, those who study Spiritism know that it, compared to other religions, comes to demonstrate the truth about everything that has always existed, but that has not always been well understood, in the same way that it shows errors, fruits of non-observance of reason or even of ignorance of certain information that, in time, began to be taught. They are the other individuals who, out of pride or personal interests, often cannot bear to see a dogma denied, and choose to attack back to the Spiritist Doctrine. Let's reflect. Instead of choosing sides, let's understand: Spiritism, as a science, can be studied by all modern spiritualists, as well as Magnetism, a sister science of the first. But, without studying and understanding, everything will remain the same: spiritists creating false concepts about spiritist (spiritual) communications in different religions and different religions failing to absorb knowledge as liberating, consoling and progressive as that of Spiritism.

Surgiu esse assunto, sempre tão presente, em um grupo do Facebook: segundo o Espiritismo, há problema em sacrificar um animal em estado terminal, isto é, em submetê-lo à eutanásia?

Adianto que não — e não se trata de opinião minha. Mas, antes de mais nada, é importante lembrar que no we must make them suffer needlessly, em nenhum caso — e isso corrobora a visão aqui apresentada.

Here, we need to recover some postulates of the Spiritist Doctrine, obtained, as always, through a rational and concordant analysis of the teachings of the Spirits. In The Spirits' Book, we will find an important clarification in this regard:

Free will and moral suffering in animals

595. Do animals enjoy free will to perform their acts?

“Animals are not simple machines, as you suppose. However, the freedom of action they enjoy is limited by their needs, and cannot be compared to that of man. Being far inferior to him, they do not have the same duties as him. Freedom, they have it restricted to the acts of material life.”

Animals have a certain freedom, of course, and we can see that some of them have it in a way superior to others, as a species of more advanced intelligence, which, however, is still restricted to the acts of material life. Thus, animals are concerned with survival, and they do everything to do so. As difficult as it is to admit, there is more of a relationship of dependence, habit and need than of love, in them, in relation to us, because love is something that develops with the advancement of the Spirit. Of course: we cannot judge the point at which this spiritual ability begins to exist, so we cannot judge absolutely about it.

The most important point here is to note that animals do not have free will, that is, they do not have consciousness, as we do, about their actions. From the moment free will develops, even in the most latent states, the Spirit starts to have free will, that is, it starts to choose its actions and, from these choices, congratulates itself or suffers for its results. So, finally, we find that animals can't hurt: they kill each other, they attack the human being, they reproduce, but all subject to instinct. There is no harm in the lion that kills the zebra: there is an instinctive need to survive. There was also no harm in orca that drowned its trainer: there is curiosity, instinct, but not a thoughtful act.

We said that the animal still has no free will. if still doesn't have, one day he will. And what is free will, if not an attribute of the Spirit, the intelligent principle of Creation? So animals have souls? Yea:

597. Since animals have an intelligence that gives them a certain freedom of action, is there in them any principle independent of matter?

“There is, and that survives the body.”

The) - Is this principle a soul like that of man?

“It is also a soul, if you will, depending on the meaning given to this word. It is, however, inferior to that of man. There is between the soul of animals and that of man a distance equivalent to that between the soul of man and God.”

598. After death, does the soul of animals retain its individuality and self-consciousness?

“Keep your individuality; about the awareness of your I, no. Intelligent life remains in a latent state.”

We see that it is a Spirit – or a soul, which is the incarnate Spirit – still in an evolutionary stage very distant from that of the terrestrial human Spirit: as if it were the same distance, according to the Spirits, that separates us from God. don't even have consciousness de si mesmos. É uma distância gigantesca, mas a informação importante é: sim, eles têm Espíritos. Resta então uma questão: os animais sofrem? De que forma?

the suffering of the animal

We, Spirits in the human stage, suffer in two ways: morally, as a result of our choices, and materially, as a result of our choices. when incarnate (The Spirit does not suffer materially when disincarnated, so that all reports of the type are the result of a mental externalization of moral suffering).

Moral pain, as we said, is born from the realization of a mistake we have made. And there could be no mistake if we didn't have the ability to choose, because without it, we would only be responding to external stimuli, through instinct. Now, this being exactly the case with animals, it is rational to suppose that they cannot suffer moral pain because of their actions – after all, imagine the moral pain that a lion would have after killing, from time to time, another animal for food!

The Spirit in the animal stage does not even need the time in the erraticity that the human Spirit needs, where he analyzes his past, his choices, his difficulties, etc:

600. Surviving the body in which it inhabited, does the soul of the animal find itself, after death, in a state of erraticity, like that of man?

“It remains in a kind of erraticity, since it is no longer united with the body, but it is not a wandering spirit. The Wandering Spirit is a being who thinks and works of his own free will. The animals do not have the same faculty. Self-awareness is what constitutes the main attribute of the Spirit. The animal's, after death, is classified by the Spirits who are responsible for this task and used almost immediately; he is not given time to enter into relations with other creatures.”

We see, in the highlighted section, important information, which denies some theories of “dog heaven”, “animal paradise”, etc. The Spirit, in this evolutionary state, only needs to experience successive reincarnations, where they develop and, in no way, atone for their faults – because they do not commit them:

602. Do animals progress, like man, by the act of their own will, or by the force of things?

“By force of things, wherefore they are not subject to expiation.”

After all, is it okay to submit an animal to euthanasia?

Rationally, after the knowledge presented, it is easy to see that no, because, as the animal does not yet have moral suffering, does not need to go through material sufferings in order to obtain any kind of learning. This is exactly the opposite of the case of the Spirit in the stage of free will, because the physical pains, many times, planned for himself before incarnating, they offer precious crucibles of purification of the Spirit, which reflects on his acts, his choices, his mistakes and successes.

Note, however, that in no way are we saying that the Spirit must always go through pain to learn something, as is preached by the defenders of the doctrine of the "law of action and reaction", where, for these, the Spirit will always need to go through a pain of the same gender and of the same intensity in order to understand that the pain he has caused another to go through, hurts. They forget that the Spirit can see its error, suffer for it, but then, with more lucidity, plan a life with opportunities and trials - and, sometimes, atonements - where it can face its imperfections and seek to get rid of them through the apprenticeship.

Conclusion

We don't need to make the animal go through unnecessary pain – pain that is often the result of the lifestyles and diet to which we submit them – because it does not reap the moral fruits of this pain, which is only physical. The case is different for the human spirit, which should never be submitted to euthanasia., como ensinam os Espírito em O Livro dos Espíritos:

Question 953 - When a person sees an inevitable and horrible end before him, will he be guilty if he shortens his sufferings for a few moments, voluntarily hastening his death?

“He who does not wait for the term that God has marked out for his existence is always guilty. And who can be sure that, despite appearances, this term has arrived; that unexpected help does not come at the last moment?”