Many have spoken in silence that the Spiritist Movement would need to break with respect to politics. We must remember, of course, that the silence of the Spiritist Movement is not only reflected in a political nature, but is a generalized silence before the Doctrine itself, which has recently been agitated under the studies of Kardec's original works and works that recover knowledge forgotten in time.

Of course, when it comes to politics, we will never be supporting anyone who seeks to link Spiritism to ideologies, especially when these ideologies are not guided by the ideas that we will express below.

There are several initiatives that are seeking to counteract the aforementioned silence. Only from study groups, we know of three or four that are very strong, in addition to the roles of current researchers, among which it is impossible not to highlight Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, in his exhausting work of recovering unknown information, especially those related to autonomous morality. and to rational spiritualism, as well as in the work so important that it is to resume Kardec's original works, unadulterated.

Well then: this work, which emphasizes the issue of autonomy, is unquestionably based on the power of autonomous choice that the Spirit must have. There would be no lack of citations in Kardec's work, of him and of different spirits, in this regard: the Spirit, to really change, needs to act by its own free will and reason, which is the basis for the other. There is no initiative, political or otherwise, that has succeeded in any lasting and real social change, however small, on the basis of authority alone. That is why I always see very carefully the issue of politics linked to any spiritist thought: it should, inexorably, be guided by the principle of morality, applied to relationships, from the first steps of the child on this planet.

I never tire of highlighting, and this will always be my flag, after understanding Spiritism in its essence: social transformation will only occur through the transformation of the individual, through family and school education. That's what we need to go back to ALL our efforts, inside and outside of politics, the latter being an effective way to return to society the morality guided by Rational Spiritualism, which understands and distinguishes the difference between happiness and unhappiness, which are characteristics of the soul's advances towards to the good, from emotions and pleasures, which are purely material. This is the missing understanding. Man will stop living under bridges when he understands that his progress depends on himself, and on no one else, and when others understand that charity is a moral and disinterested duty, going far beyond the alms that humiliate the parties.

Let us turn our intelligence to this purpose, dear brothers! Children continue to grow into youth and adults, full of acquired imperfections, or of those not corrected, largely purely because of bad habits of education, simply because no one is aware of the urgent need to bring the family and all public education officials to their senses. and private. Kardec saw the future with radiant eyes, because he believed that the educational model, guided by Rational Spiritualism, would continue to flourish and spread... matter.

We need to go back and understand Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Rivail, Biran, Janet and so many other free-thinkers who never wanted to bring about change by force, as they soon realized that it, in reality, only produces anger and irritation. Rivail would say, in his “Proposed Plan for the Improvement of Public Education”:

“The irritated and unpersuaded child submits only to force; nothing proves to him that she did wrong; she knows only that she did not act according to the master's will; and this will he regards, not as just and reasonable, but as a caprice and a tyranny; it believes itself to be always subject to the will. As she is commonly made to feel physical superiority rather than moral superiority, she waits impatiently to have enough strength herself to withdraw from it; hence this hostile spirit that reigns between the masters and their students.”

So it will be, because so it is, in any aspect of the Spirit. Rivail did not think of this when he wrote this work, but we know today, as he later came to know: the child is animated by the same Spirit as the adult, only a little more limited in his perceptions and capacities. It is your Spirit, therefore, and not your body, that does not submit to force. Let us remember this.

Paulo Degering Rosa Junior

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.

The time for the lecture at the Spiritist Center hits. The speaker, apparently well-prepared and with eloquent language, rises to the rostrum and, in the midst of topics related to the current spiritist environment, begins to issue different opinions about a supposed purpose of Spiritism as the foundation of political movements.

Most likely you too, dear reader, have already witnessed such feats, or heard close reports. And, of course, such opinions – personal, we remember – arouse sympathies and antipathies, because, in the political field, there is a lot of clash and disagreement of ideologies.

We are not going to name sides, parties, ideologies or whatever. What we are going to defend here is that Spiritism is not and will never be a political movement. And those who involve the Doctrine in such matters, did not understand it in its depth and are based on a distorted understanding to base their own political ideological inclinations, keeping away from Spiritism people who do not agree with their way of thinking - almost always quite closed in a circle. specific to ideas.

Spiritism, we remember, is a moral science with a philosophical aspect, whose theory was born from the observation of spiritist facts - that is, from the manifestation of Spirits. Its essence, in its original clarity, is aimed at the reform of ideas, in the sense of how the human spirit faces its evolution, its trials, its difficulties and its opportunities. It is not by chance, by the way, that Allan Kardec was formed at the Castle of Yverdon, by the method of Pestalozzi: it is through the pedagogy of fraternity and love, and not through punishment, that the Spirit really acquires a real understanding about its potentialities and your imperfections, perfecting yourself and leaving your bad habits behind.

Why do we say all this? Because political ideologies, on all sides, have supporters – to the exclusion of those many only use politics for their own benefit – who aim at social improvement. When these adepts are spiritists, they are often led to believe, by a very shallow understanding, that spiritist ideas are allied to their political ideologies, and they start to spread such beliefs to the four winds, without caring about the antipathies they will arouse. By the way, we also need to remember: most political ideologies trample on individual freedoms of thought, and Spiritism does just the opposite.

And all this, I repeat, for a very shallow understanding, for not delving into the studies of the Doctrine to the point of understanding that the purpose of Spiritism is to re-educate the human Spirit and, allied to education from childhood, improve the way in which the Spirit faces material life, promoting in him a change of ideas about the difficulties of life and about the need to stifle his impetus of pride and selfishness and to act in a charitable way, as a moral obligation, respecting the free will that each one has.

This does change society, as it changes the way the individual sees life and others. Spiritism offers us common ground, being a science available to people of all beliefs and ideologies, as long as they understand that its real proposal is individual modification, through free conscience, and not by force of law.

In the same way that an individual who knocks on the door of the center looking for consolation but listens to the most diverse zucchinis is scared away, brothers are also scared away when involving political issues in the spiritist environment. Unfortunately, I see many spiritualists supporting ideas and individuals who, directly or indirectly, hurt or declaredly wish to hurt the first basic principle of divine law, supported by Spiritism, which is free will.

I don't want to say that I'm someone so worthy of being important for their presence or absence, but I think I'm not the only one to walk away because of this kind of bias that shouldn't, in my humble opinion, be part of Doctrine studies – thinking that, although we want to imprint our own personalities and ideas on groups, we have a lot of responsibility for others, in the same way that someone who “welcomes” the mother of a person with disabilities by saying that he is like that because he committed suicide in the family has a responsibility. past life and that, therefore, pushes it away.

Therefore, no, Spiritism can never be mixed with any political movements.

To finish, let's remember

Allan Kardec who, in Spiritist Magazine February 1862, gives an alert:

“I must also call attention to another tactic of our adversaries: that of seeking to compromise the spiritists, inducing them to move away from the true objective of the Doctrine, which is that of moral (emphasis ours), to address issues that are not within their competence and that could, with good reason, arouse susceptibility and distrust.

Don't let yourself fall into that trap either; carefully remove from your meetings all that pertains to politics and irritating issues, in which case discussions will lead to nothing and only cause embarrassment, while no one will question morals, when it is good.

Look for in Spiritism what can improve you; here's the essentials. When men are better, truly useful social reforms will follow naturally.”