– Oh, are you a Spiritist? Cool. Do you go to a center?

– Yes, I go to one near my house.

– And what do you do there?

– Ah, we watch a lecture on the Gospel, then take a pass… Then we say a few prayers, and leave. There is also child evangelization.

– Aaah… So it’s like a Catholic church.

- No! Because Spiritism has no ritual.

- Huh?! But it's just the same. At church, you arrive, there was a sermon on the Gospel, then you receive the host, then you pray, and you leave. Children participate in catechism.

- No but…

- Admit it, it's the same. Even evangelization, which I know has a positive aspect, is done in this kind of imposing way, isn't it? But what surprises me is that I've already studied a little of Spiritism, but I've never attended a center... And, from what I've studied, there wasn't any of that in Spiritism. For example: do you evoke Spirits to help them?

– No, you cannot evoke Spirits, because you could end up obsessed.

- Our! Who told you that?

- Huh?! Everyone from the center! FEB itself says so!

– Ah, the FEB… But… If Kardec himself evoked Spirits to learn from them, Spirits even of suicides, and often ended up helping them to reflect?!

– Ah, but that was in a controlled group, and these Spirits were already calmer. And it was Kardec.

– It wasn't what I read. And it wasn't just Kardec who evoked. Did you know that, at that time, people practiced studies, with evocations even of disturbed spirits, in their homes, in small groups?

– Wow, and weren’t they obsessed, feeling bad, about these inferior Spirits?

– Look, we are all inferior in relation to the most advanced spirits. And no, they weren't obsessed or sick. In fact, they often helped these Spirits while learning from them.

There is an evocation, for example, of this suicide, which was just a few days after his death, and he appeared to be in full disarray. Kardec asked some questions, trying to understand what was going on with that Spirit, and with these questions, he understood something. Then he asked for prayers and said goodbye, because he didn't want to talk anymore. I agree that seriousness and control are needed, but Kardec never mentioned any of the mediums becoming obsessed while trying to learn, with the analysis of the situation of Spirits like this, and even murderers!

- Murderers?!

- Yes! There is an evocation of Assassin Lemaire, look for it in the Spiritist Magazine of 1858, it is very interesting.

– And you said they evoked DAYS after death?

– Yes. Sometimes, hours later!

– Hours?! But I've always heard that, in addition to not being able to evoke, you have to wait patiently for that Spirit to gain the light and come to communicate of its own accord.

- This is not true. It all depends on the purpose. As the intention was to analyze these Spirits psychologically, there was no problem. Furthermore, it is clear that they respected the will of the Spirits. Many times they did not want to talk about their sufferings. There is another problem there: Kardec has always shown that being available to any Spirit brings the danger of purposeless, often misleading, communications.

But then you don't do evocations in the center?

– No. There is even a meeting of mediums, but it is closed to the public.

– Oh, natural. But there they evoke, then, to learn and help?

- No no. They are available to any spirit that wants to communicate. These days, they received communication from the Apostle John!

– How do they know it was John, and not another? Did they later question the guiding Spirit of the group?

– Spirit guide? No, the Spirit SAID that he was John the apostle and spoke of Jesus and the need for much prayer because the deadline is coming.

– Ah… But… What if this Spirit was using the apostle’s name and beautiful words to pass on wrong teachings?

– Oh, but…

– And at home, do you practice Spiritism?

– What do you mean, practice?

– Study, evoke Spirits for learning purposes by analyzing their situations…

– If we don't evoke it even in the center, do you think we're going to evoke it at home? Get out! Will a Spirit decide to stay there?

– What do you mean, “stay there”? Spirits are everywhere. There are definitely some here right now.

– Good God!

- Yes of course! And they are attracted by affinity of thoughts. If the evocation is done with serious intent and with knowledge, there is no problem. The wrong thing is to evoke it as a joke or lightly. If the evocator is proud, for example, a frivolous spirit can appear and say things that feed that pride. There, without studying, and willing to cultivate his own pride, the subject enters the spirit and ends up fascinated. This is the danger, but this can happen even through intuition, indirectly.

– Wow, I didn’t know that. I had already heard that, if you evoke a disturbed Spirit, it “sticks” to you.

- No of course not. It depends on the intention and preparation. Well, but is there at least a study at this center? Like, studying the works of Kardec, the Revista Espírita…

– Spiritist Magazine? What's that? No, we study works by Chico and Divaldo, because we know that Kardec's works are outdated in many points, right?!

– Outdated? My friend, I know that there are even beautiful and correct things in these mediumistic works, but they were the result of uncontrolled communications. How, without studying Kardec, do they recommend the study of mediumistic works? Spiritism is science!

– Science? No! Spiritism is religion!

– That was not what Kardec demonstrated. Have you read Genesis?

– Wow, I already took a leaf, but very difficult and, as I said, outdated! Imagine they believed there was life on the moon!!

– But, my friend, that was part of the human science of the time. But there is the part of the spiritist science.

– Spiritist Science?

– Yes, what was developed by the methodological study of Kardec, with the use of reason and with the need for universal confirmation of the teachings of the Spirits. But then, if there is a group of mediums in the house, how did it form?

– Ah, they are very old mediums in the house, and the group is closed.

– But what about other people’s mediumship?

– Ah, if a “good” medium appears there, he has to take a 5-year course in Spiritism!

– But what course, if they don’t study Kardec?

– No, there, there, there are some FEB booklets, where Kardec is discussed…

– At least something!

– And then there is the complement with mediumistic works. Have you seen the works of Ramatis, about mediumship??

- My God…

- What?

– Friend, Ramatis is a pseudo-sage.

– Pseudo what?

– It means that he pretends to be a wise man, but there are several absurdities in these works. We don't even know, in fact, if it's just a Spirit, because anyone can use that name.

– But I've seen some of his things, they seemed coherent

– Consistent? Well, being a Spirit, it is clear that something or other will be true... But the problem is that they accept what this or these Spirits say without even reasoning! These works are mystic, not doctrinal.

– How are they not doctrinal? The same thing he says, many others also say. It's not that?

- Not only that. It is necessary to submit this to reason, which demands knowledge. What is already established by this process can only be undone by the same process, that is, it is not enough to say the same thing everywhere, when there is no control, no method, no rationality. For example: Ramatis talks about seven spiritual bodies, which is mystical – you know those things about biblical, kabbalistic numbers? Then!

Kardec has already demonstrated, through studies with the Spirits and in a scientific way, that what exists is the perispirit, formed by the universal cosmic fluid. Just that. This story of seven bodies, after all, is materialistic.

– Friend, I don’t understand anything anymore! You mean everything I've been told is wrong?

– Not all, but most of it. When Spiritism was disseminated in Brazil, the Spiritist Movement was already worn out and weakened, due to an adulteration of principles after Kardec's death.

Well, the question is this: do you want to study, or are you comfortable with what you experience in this center?

– Ah, I feel good, and it’s so difficult trying to understand Kardec!

– Really, there are things difficult to understand in Kardec. But the dedicated study of the Spiritist Magazine, from 1858 to 1864, helps to understand a lot! Also, there are many study groups, and I myself participate in one. But, you see, these are study groups. There is no professor, nor is it a course.

Give it a chance, study it, and your reason will lead you, with the intuition of good spirits, along the path that best suits you.

– Yeah... I'll think about it...

———————————————————-

I didn't want to title this text. We don't need to give exhaustive names. It is enough that we understand the distance that exists between the Spiritist Movement and Spiritism. This distance needs to be overcome through dialogue, through facts, but only by those open to dialogue and learning. It's no use fighting the recalcitrant.

Kardec opens the month of September 1858 with a long and deep digression – a real lesson on the DANGERS OF SPIRITISM. As at that time, today it is still said that mediumship can pose dangers to mediums and assistants. In a word, that contact with spirits can be dangerous. Will it be?

“[…] If we wanted to banish from Society everything that could pose danger and give rise to abuse, we would not know very much what would be left, even of those essential things, starting with fire, the cause of so many misfortunes; then the railways, &c. etc”. 

Kardec's Thought, RE 1858

This denotes that, yes, there are some dangers, but, taking the necessary precautions, if the advantages outweigh the inconveniences, then one should not outlaw such investigation.

Kardec continues, highlighting: 

“Actually, Spiritism presents a real danger, but it is not the one that is supposed. It is necessary to be initiated in the principles of Science to understand it well. We do not address those who are alien to it, but the adepts themselves, those who practice it, since it is for them that there is danger.”

Idem

Observation: Mediums and scholars. For example: Roustaing was fascinated by what he received through a medium.

See also the group study we did on the topic.

What does this danger consist of, anyway? It consists of the haste or the exaggerated enthusiasm of those who put themselves in contact with the Spirits, who often allow themselves to be influenced. Now, when they obtain any mediumistic phenomenon, how many are not amazed by it – and why do they sink?

Here, the big question is precisely with regard to the medium's knowledge: he could avoid many evils, including his morals. We already know that spirits are not special beings, but only human beings outside the flesh and that, therefore, as shown, they guard their vices and their virtues.

We also know that we are incessantly surrounded by a “cloud” of Spirits, of the most diverse classes and inclinations, the quasi connect to us as they become attached to our spiritual reality, in acting and in thinking, that is, to our deepest inclinations towards the passions or for the virtues.

Passion is a term that designates a very strong feeling of attraction to a person, object or topic. Passion is intense, enveloping, an enthusiasm or a strong desire for something. The term is also often applied to designate a lively interest or admiration for an ideal, cause, or activity. In the 19th century, psychology called passions what we now call emotions.

Due to the condition of our planet, we know that the inferior spirits are more abundant here than the superior ones. This should put us on alert, us, initiates in the Spiritist science, in relation to the Spirits that we attract to us.

We also know that imperfect spirits, when they find a breach in the human heart, can attach themselves to it and, if their moral ancestry – however inferior it may be – is accepted, it can reach the point of subdue, fascinate and obsess the incarnate.

Returning to the mediums, Kardec observes: 

"The cold man, on the contrary [from excited], is impassive. He is not deceived; it combines, weighs, examines maturely and does not allow itself to be seduced by subterfuges. This is what gives you strength. The malevolent spirits, who know this as well or better than we do, also know how to take advantage of the situation to subjugate those they wish to have under their dependence.”

idem

Let us remember the imposter spirit of Father Ambrósio, questioned by Kardec (July/1858):

“16. ─ Why don't you sustain the imposture in our presence? ─ Because my language is a touchstone, with which you cannot be deceived.”

Let's see, friends, that Kardec, here, is giving solid foundations for the formation and maintenance of spiritist research.

"Whether for enthusiasm, or for the fascination of the Spirits, or for self love, in general the psychographic medium is led to believe that the spirits that communicate with him are superior, and all the more, the more the spirits, seeing their propensity, do not cease to adorn themselves with pompous titles, according to the need”

“From blind and thoughtless belief in the superiority of spirits who communicate, to trust in their words, there is only one step, as it happens among men.” – And Kardec will give a very practical example of that.

Allan Kardec tells that a young man, educated, carefully educated, of a mild and benevolent character, but a little weak and indecisive, he became a psychographic medium with very quickly and became obsessed by a Spirit. This Spirit began to dictate to him true absurdities, which, as a result, almost led the boy to illness and madness:

"Subjugation had reached a point where he had been told to throw himself into the water or go to the antipodes. [other side of Earth], he would have done. When they wanted to force him to do something he disliked, was dragged by an invisible force.”

“When the creature managed to replace the devil with Jesus, it still does not possess the truth. to have it, it is necessary to believe. God does not give the truth to those who doubt: it would be to do something useless and God does nothing in vain. As most new mediums doubt what they say and write, good spirits, begrudgingly, by God's formal order, they are obliged to lie and have no choice but to lie until the medium is convinced; but as soon as he believes one of these lies, the high spirits rush to reveal to him the secrets of heaven: the whole truth dissipates in an instant that cloud of errors with which they had been forced to envelop their protege.

"At this point, the medium has nothing to fear anymore.. The good spirits will never leave you. However, he must not believe that he always has the truth and only the truth. Whether to try it out, or to punish it for past faults, or even to punish it for selfish or curious questions, the good spirits him inflict physical and moral corrections, come to torment him by the command of God.”

RE October, 1858 (quotes from the psychographs of the fascinated Spirit

The report that Kardec gives, obtained from the psychographies of these obsessing Spirits, through the boy, is even difficult to read, let alone to understand, such is the level of disparity of the ideas presented there. For its extension, we will abstract from the citation. It is worth highlighting Kardec's observation, only: 

"Note that in all this there is nothing coarse or banal. It is a series of sophistical reasonings linked together with the appearance of logic. There is indeed an infernal art in the means employed to deceive him, and if it had been possible for us to relate all these manifestations, one would have seen to what extent the cunning was carried and with what skill they used honeyed words.”

In the midst of all this struggle, however, Kardec highlights that it was easy to recognize another spirit, kind, who struggled to make himself ear. It was his father, who, at one point, wrote: "Yes, my son, courage! You undergo a harsh ordeal, which will be for your good in the future. Unfortunately, at the moment, I can't do anything to free you, and it costs me a lot. Go see Allan Kardec; listen to him and he will save you”

The boy, listening to the good advice, goes to look for Kardec, who starts what today we would call disobsession:

"I used all my willpower to call the good spirits through you; all my rhetoric to prove to him that he was a victim of detestable spirits; that what he wrote was senseless and profoundly immoral. For this charity work I joined a colleague, Mr. T… and little by little we got him to write sensible things. He took a dislike to that bad temper, repelling him willingly each time he tried to manifest himself, and slowly the good spirits triumphed.”

To change his ideas, he followed the advice of the Spirits, to give himself to a rough job, that did not leave him time to listen to bad suggestions.

• But disobsession it does not only aim at the incarnate, who can drive away bad Spirits at will, but it can positively affect the Spirit as well (and often does):

Dillois himself ended up confessing himself defeated and expressed a desire to progress in a new existence. He confessed the evil he had tried to do and gave evidence of repentance. The fight was long and painful and offered the observer really curious features. Today Mr. F. feels free and happy. It's as if you've dropped a burden. He regained his joy and thanks us for the service we have given him.

Kardec begins the conclusion of the article with a reflection: far from proving the danger of mediumship, cases like these show its utility. Now, the spirits are around us, with or without mediumship, and with or without it they can obsess us, if we allow. 

Mediumship only puts us in direct contact with them, which provides an important tool for the spirits themselves to reveal themselves and accuse themselves, allowing the medium or someone else to try to open their eyes – exactly as it happened with the boy.

Finally, mediumship is not what makes the communication of ideas from inferior spirits exclusive. Says Kardec: 

"Who says that among all these ridiculous or dangerous speculations there will not be some whose authors are driven by malevolent spirits? Three-quarters of our evil actions and our evil thoughts are the fruit of this hidden suggestion.”

"In short, the danger is not exactly in Spiritism, because it can, on the contrary, serve as a control[…]. The danger lies in the propensity of certain mediums to, very lightly, believe themselves to be instruments exclusive to superior spirits and in a kind of fascination that does not allow them to understand the nonsense of which they are interpreters. Even those who are not mediums can be dragged along.”

In closing, Kardec makes some remarks. Some we have already dealt with recently, regarding the language of the Spirits and the contradictions:

1st – Every medium must guard against the irresistible excitement that leads him to write incessantly and even at inopportune moments; he must be master of himself and not write unless he wants to;

2nd – We do not dominate superior spirits, not even those who, not being superior, are good and benevolent, but we can dominate and tame inferior spirits. He who is not master of himself cannot be master of the spirits;

3rd – There is no other criterion than common sense to discern the value of spirits. Any formula given for this purpose by the spirits themselves is absurd and cannot emanate from superior spirits;

4th – Spirits, like men, are judged by their language. Every expression, every thought, every concept, every moral or scientific theory that clashes with common sense or does not correspond to the idea that we have of a pure and elevated Spirit, emanates from a more or less inferior Spirit;

5th – Superior spirits always speak the same language with the same person and never contradict each other;

6th – Superior spirits are always good and benevolent. In their language we never find acrimony, arrogance, harshness, pride, boasting, or foolish presumption. They speak plainly, advise, and withdraw when they are not heard;

7th – We should not judge spirits by their material form or by the correctness of their language, but probe their depths, scrutinize their words, weigh them coldly, maturely and without prejudice. Any escape from common sense, reason and wisdom cannot leave any doubt as to its origin, whatever the name under which the Spirit is masked;

8th – Inferior spirits are afraid of those who analyze their words, they unmask their turpitude and do not allow themselves to be caught by their sophistry. Sometimes they try to resist, but they always end up running away, when they realize that they are the weakest;

9th – He who in everything acts with a view to the good, rises above human vanities, expels selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy and hatred from his heart, and forgives his enemies, putting this into practice. Christ's maxim: “Do to others what you want done to you”; he sympathizes with the good spirits, while the bad ones fear him and move away from him.

Let's study?

Check out the study groups that exist, dealing with the Spiritist Doctrine, in which we have learned A LOT. Click here.

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Kardec thus defines the obsession:

Obsession is the persistent action that an evil Spirit exerts on an individual. It presents very different characters, from the simple moral influence without sensitive external marks to the complete disturbance of the organism and mental faculties. Obliterates all mediumistic faculties. In auditory and psychographic mediumship, it is translated by the obstinacy of a spirit in manifesting itself to the exclusion of others.

Obsession is almost always the fact of revenge exercised by a Spirit and that most often originates in the relationships that the obsessed person has had with that one in a previous existence. 

In cases of severe obsession, the obsessed person is surrounded and impregnated by a pernicious fluid that neutralizes the action of healthy fluids and repels them. It is from this fluid that it becomes necessary to disentangle oneself; now, a bad fluid cannot be repelled by another bad fluid. By an action identical to that of the healing medium, in the case of diseases, it is necessary to expel the bad fluid with the help of a better fluid. 

That's mechanical action, but that's not always enough. It is also, and above all, necessary to act on the intelligent being, to which it is necessary to have the right to speak with authority, and this authority is only given by moral superiority; the greater it is, the greater the authority.

Allan Kardec, The Genesis, 1868

Obsession occurs from spirit to spirit, even from incarnate to incarnate and has, at its root, always a lack of initial ability to fight against a pernicious influence. We see this in unhealthy couple relationships, when one exerts a pernicious dominion that is not fought for the other. When giving from Spirit to incarnate, at the origin, the incarnate's lack of ability to identify the pernicious influence on their own imperfections and passions (feelings) is identified, leading them, slowly and progressively, to enter different states. such as those of pleasure, restlessness, melancholy, etc. This means that, many times, the incarnate himself voluntarily accepts, although unconsciously, the influence that instigates him to cultivate imperfections or habits that please him.

There is also the less frequent possibility of having a self-obsession, where the individual himself is attached to certain thoughts or certain questions, without the participation of other Spirits. We will address each of these possibilities below.

It is important to say, first of all, that obsession needs to be fought, as soon as possible, by the will of the incarnate, in the first place. It turns out that, if the obsession is advanced, this desire can be obliterated, which is very common in cases identified as depressive. This is where it is necessary to have an intervention, from close people, who can help, with benevolent persistence, to lift this non-existent or erased will. For this reason, we believe it is important to highlight the state of subjugation and possession, defined as follows by Kardec:

Subjugation

It is a moral bond that paralyzes the will of the one who suffers it and that impels the person to the most unreasonable attitudes, often the most contrary to their own interest. [RE, Oct/1858]

Subjugation can be moral or corporal. In the first case, the subject is forced to make resolutions that are often absurd and compromising, which, by a kind of illusion, he judges to be sensible: it is a type of fascination. In the second case, the Spirit acts on the material organs and causes involuntary movements. It is translated, in the writing medium, by an incessant need to write, even at the least opportune moments. We saw some who, lacking a pen or pencil, pretended to write with their finger, wherever they were, even in the streets, on doors, on walls. [The Mediums' Book]

possession 

It was formerly called possession to the empire exercised by bad spirits, when their influence reached the aberration of the victim's faculties. Possession would be, for us, synonymous with subjugation. [The Mediums' Book]

In possession, instead of acting externally, the free Spirit replaces, so to speak, the incarnate Spirit; he makes the choice of domicile in his body without, however, this leaving him definitively, which cannot take place except with death. Possession is therefore always temporary and intermittent because a disembodied Spirit cannot definitively take the place and dignity of an incarnate Spirit, bearing in mind that the molecular union of the perispirit and the body can only operate at the moment of conception.

The Spirit, in the momentary possession of the body, uses it as its own; he speaks through his mouth, sees through his eyes, acts with his arms as if he had made his experience. It is no longer like in psychophonic mediumship, in which the incarnate Spirit speaks transmitting the thought of a disembodied Spirit. It is the latter himself who speaks and acts and if you have known him in life, you will recognize him by his language, his voice, by his gestures and even by the expression of his physiognomy.

Obsession is always an occurrence of a malefactor spirit. Possession can be the action of a good Spirit who wants to speak and, in order to make a greater impression on his listener, he borrows the body of an incarnate, who voluntarily lends him as if he were lending his garment.. This is done without no disturbance or discomfort, and during this time the Spirit is at liberty, as in the state of emancipation, and, more often than not, he stands beside his substitute to listen to him.

When the possessing spirit is bad, things happen differently. He does not borrow the body, but takes possession if the holder does not have the moral strength to resist him.. He does it out of malice towards the said, whom he tortures and martyrs in every way, until he wants to make him perish, either by strangulation, or by putting him on fire, or in other dangerous places. Using the limbs and organs of the unfortunate patient, he insults, defames, and mistreats those around him; he frees himself from such eccentricities and acts that have all the characteristics of raging madness. [The Genesis]

We thus see the extent of evil that can be reached with an unconfronted influence. We come to the important point: how to fight an obsession.

Fighting an obsession

Whether on your own initiative or with the help of someone, fighting an obsession must encompass everyone involved. When it comes to self-obsession, that will be the only target; the approach will be different when there is a relationship between some individuals and others. In the case of obsession from incarnate to incarnate, the work can be greatly helped by human psychology, but also by approaching the incarnate obsessor who, in turn, is almost always suffering from an obsession. Depending on the severity of this situation, from incarnate to incarnate, the interruption of influence, even by legal means, may be necessary.

The most frequent picture, however, is the obsession of imperfect spirits over incarnates. As we have seen, it almost always takes place out of revenge. Other times, it is simply due to the will that one or more imperfect spirits have to attract those whom they envy to the unhappiness they share. Another possibility that should matter a lot to the workers of the Spiritist Doctrine is that of the Spirits who, enemies of this science, do everything to hinder its propagation, creating true evil plans to attack it at its bases, as was the case involving Mr. Roustaing, at the time of Kardec, and Mr. Leymarie, who, after Kardec's death, gave in to the passions of fame and money and, thus, destroyed and distorted the paths previously traced by the patron of the Spiritist Doctrine, casting, on this, a great stain that only today begins to be erased.

The work to combat spiritual obsession, as we said, must address both sides of the relationship. On the side of the spirits, a good spiritist group, sufficiently instructed and careful, can be of great help, through the work of disobsession, which consists of trying to make the obsessing spirits understand the waste of time and the uselessness of doing what they do. For this, however, the group's workers need to offer what Kardec called moral ascendant, that is, they need to be honest and committed to the work of correcting their own imperfections, because, very commonly, the obsessing spirits will point to any trace of dishonesty or demagoguery, which is when you say one thing and do another. The obsessing spirit, for example, when invited to stop acting out of jealousy, may turn around and say: “who are you to tell me that, if you acted like that yesterday, with your wife?”. Of course, we don't expect the incarnates to be perfect, but it is necessary for them to be honest and committed. In this situation, the individual might reply, “Yes, I unfortunately gave in to this bad habit yesterday, but you must have seen that I suffered from its results. That's why, if you've been following me, you must have seen that I'm trying to beat you.”

During the mediumistic contact, the Spirit, who is often crazy in a fixed thought, suffers a kind of "shock", which does not consist of anything energetic, but rather, in the containment of his thoughts, during the perispiritual connection with the medium. Thus, it becomes easier to reason and reflect.

Working with an obsessor can demand persistence and care, for several reasons. sessions, which may involve evoking the Spirit involved. But it is also necessary to approach the incarnate, which needs to awaken, in itself, the will of wanting to get rid of that yoke. For this, it will be necessary to lead him to reason, too, so that, by reason, he makes that decision.

At Spiritist Magazine of October 1858, Kardec presents a case of this type, successful after all:

I used all my willpower to summon the good spirits through him; all my rhetoric to prove to him that he was a victim of detestable spirits; that what he wrote was senseless and profoundly immoral. For this charity work I joined a colleague, Mr. T… and little by little we got him to write sensible things. He took aversion to that bad temper, repelling it of his own accord each time he tried to manifest himself, and slowly the good spirits triumphed.”

To change his ideas, he followed the advice of the Spirits, to give himself to a rough job, that did not leave him time to listen to bad suggestions.

The effect on the Spirit was also positive:

Dillois himself ended up confessing himself defeated and expressed a desire to progress in a new existence. He confessed the evil he had tried to do and gave evidence of repentance. The fight was long and painful and offered the observer really curious features. Today Mr. F. feels free and happy. It's as if you've dropped a burden. He regained his joy and thanks us for the service we have given him.

It is interesting to note that, in this case presented, Kardec's work was even more active in relation to the incarnate, because, acquiring this active and benevolent will, he will offer the "moral ascendant" over these Spirits, who will stop disturbing him when they verify this force, in addition to acquiring the sympathy of good spirits.

Therefore, to be fully instructed in the Spiritist Doctrine, taking from it all the moral and rational consequences that drive us on the path of "intimate reform", work on our own thoughts and actions, fears and desires, so that, each day more, everything is under divine laws, it is the best way to stay free from obsessions, because, even if the obsessing Spirit is not convinced of the need to reform, it may no longer find an opening to influence the incarnate.

We recommend the in-depth and complementary reading of The Mediums' Book, part two, Chap. XXIII, where Kardec approaches the subject in length.

Today, October 10th, is International Mental Health Day. And, as a matter of such importance, we could not let it pass unnoticed.

We begin by stating that, as it is extremely important, the slightest signs of restlessness and imbalance, be they uncontrolled stress, melancholy/depression and other disorders, should always motivate the search for professional psychological support. Many of our concerns come not only from aspects deeply rooted within us, but also, many times, from organic imbalances. We are spirits incarnated in a body, and these are subject to the vicissitudes of matter.

That said, let's move on to the spiritual aspect of our mental health. For us spiritists and, globally, for every spiritualist, the brain is not just a chemical and organic reflection, but it is, rather, the organ of expression of the Spirit, although muffled in its real face. Therefore, the Spirit – or the soul – is the one who presides over the will, the choices and, in a word, the free will.

Recognizing ourselves, therefore, in a kind of duality between Spirit and matter, we understand that any treatment that addresses the mind should approach the individual in a holistic way, that is, integral, integrating body and Spirit. It is clear that a good professional psychological support will do a lot in this regard, but we cannot deny that, by encompassing the existing spiritual sphere, the treatment will always bring much more benefit in this regard.

What we are trying to do here is to demonstrate that, when it comes to mental health, we cannot see everything only from the spiritual aspect – especially regarding the probable spiritual obsessions – but also from the organic and physiological aspect of the issue. For example: we can think that a person who lives under stress and who has emotional out-of-control events is being the victim of a spiritual obsession, when, however, he just has pre-diabetes symptoms, which causes hypoglycemia, which leads to such out-of-control .

We cannot, therefore, as spiritists, in welcoming whoever and wherever it may be, treat everything as if it were a “spiritual problem”, which would be very irresponsible. It is always important to investigate what is going on with the individual, trying to find out if he is undergoing psychological follow-up, if he is being treated and, if not, seek to refer the brother for such treatment.

On the other hand, it is important to highlight that Spiritism has a very important facet in this aspect, as it enlightens the individual about the reasons for the difficulties of life and about our constant relationship with the spiritual world around us. Now, how many cases of madness are not also initiated by an open and unvigilant mind to the thoughts of Spirits of the third order? How many times are we not fed, because of our imperfections, in the most subtle processes of mental alienation that, slowly, are causing us manias, fears and various disorders?

Since we are Spirits incarnated in a body and our Spirit is in charge of our will, it is clear that the root of all our problems will always be in the Spirit – even in the case of pre-diabetics, since it is due to a bad habit in the food, provoked by “his Spirit”, that such an evil was installed. Therefore, in this sense too, the more the Spirit understands about the devices and purposes of life, the need to correct its imperfections, the benefit of prayer on the mind and the fact of mental association, with incarnated and disembodied beings, according to our inclinations mental health, the easier it will be for you to remain mentally balanced.

But, what in the case of an already installed imbalance process? Here, as we have already said, in the first instance we cannot dispense with professional psychological treatment. This is imperative. Secondly, through Spiritism and Magnetism, we can also offer a very beneficial treatment:

• Through prayer, seek to help the incarnate and the possible disincarnate in the improvement of their mental field;
• Through the magnetic pass, which can be done even by family members, we can seek to help reduce the disturbances and reflexes of such imbalances;
• After all, however, we cannot forget that the individual who is experiencing a serious mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, may have a need to experience it, even as part of a reincarnation plan, for reasons such as, for example, , to make him disconnect a little from old mental processes, which afflict him a lot. Therefore, pray and seek to help always, with faith, but not giving up before the complete cessation of the disease.

Finally, we would like to point out that differentiating pathological disorders from cases of mediumistic obsession is always very important, since, as Kardec already identified at that time, that in the latter case, medication can even be harmful:

let's not confuse the pathological madness with the obsession; this does not come from any brain injury, but from the subjugation that malevolent spirits exercise over certain individuals, and which, many times, has the appearance of madness itself. This condition, very frequent, is independent of any belief in Spiritism and has existed at all times. In this case, ordinary medication is impotent and even harmful.

Allan Kardec – What is Spiritism? 

Nor could we fail to quote, here, in full, the text “Suicide and madness”, by Allan Kardec, in chap. V of the Gospel According to Spiritism:

14. The calm and resignation derived from the way of considering earthly life and the confidence in the future give the spirit a serenity that is the best preservative against The madness and suicide. Indeed, it is certain that most cases of madness are due to the commotion produced by the vicissitudes that man does not have the courage to endure. Now, if looking at the things of this world in the way that Spiritism makes him consider them, man receives with indifference, even with joy, the setbacks and disappointments that have made him desperate in other circumstances, it becomes evident that this force, which it places him above events, preserves his reason from shocks, which, if it were not for that, would disturb it.

15. The same is true of suicide. Leaving aside those who give themselves up in a state of drunkenness and madness, which can be called unconscious, it is undeniable that he always has a cause of discontent, whatever the particular reasons that may be pointed out to him. Now, he who is sure that he is only unhappy for a day and that the days to come will be better, is easily filled with patience. He only despairs when there is no term for his sufferings. And what is human life, in relation to eternity, if not much less than a day? But for those who do not believe in eternity and think that everything ends with life, if misfortunes and afflictions overwhelm them, only in death do they see a solution to their bitterness. Expecting nothing, he finds it very natural, very logical, to abbreviate his miseries by suicide.

16. Incredulity, mere doubt about the future, materialistic ideas, in a word, are the greatest incitements to suicide; cause the moral cowardice. When men of science, supported by the authority of their knowledge, endeavor to prove to those who hear or read them that they have nothing to hope for after death, they are not in fact leading them to deduce that, if they are wretched, they are better off. what is left for them to do but kill themselves? What could they say to divert them from this consequence? What compensation can you offer them? What hope can you give them? None but nothing. Hence it must be concluded that, if nothingness is the only heroic remedy, the only perspective, it is better to seek it immediately and not later, in order to suffer for a shorter time.
The propagation of materialistic doctrines is, therefore, the poison that instills the idea of suicide in the majority of those who commit suicide, and those who constitute themselves as apostles of such doctrines assume tremendous responsibility. With Spiritism, once doubt is made impossible, the aspect of life changes. The believer knows that existence goes on indefinitely beyond the grave, but under very different conditions; hence the patience and resignation that very naturally keep him from thinking about suicide; where, in short, the moral courage.

17. In this aspect, Spiritism still produces another equally positive and perhaps more decisive result. It presents the suicides themselves informing us of the unfortunate situation in which they find themselves and proving that no one violates God's law with impunity, which forbids man to shorten his life. Among those who commit suicide, there are some whose sufferings, not because they are temporary and not eternal, are no less terrible and of a nature to make those who think of leaving here, before God has ordained, reflect. The spiritist has, therefore, several reasons against the idea of suicide: the certainty of a future life, in which, he knows, he will be all the more blissful, the more unfortunate and resigned he has been on Earth: the certainty that , shortening his days, arrives, precisely, at the opposite result to what he expected; who frees himself from an evil, in order to incur a worse, longer and more terrible evil; who deceives himself, imagining that, by killing himself, he goes faster to heaven; that suicide is an obstacle to his joining in the other world with those who were the objects of his affections and whom he hoped to find; hence the consequence that suicide, by bringing him only disappointments, is contrary to his own interests. For this very reason, the number of those who have been, by Spiritism, prevented from committing suicide is already considerable, and from there it can be concluded that, when all men are spiritists, there will no longer be conscious suicides. Comparing, then, the results that the materialist doctrines produce with those that derive from the Spiritist Doctrine, only from the point of view of suicide, it will be necessary to recognize that, while the logic of the first leads to it, the other one avoids it, a fact which experience confirms.