How can Our Home? How would it be possible, given the doctrinal knowledge brought to light with so much care, with appropriate methodology, gathered from the study of a multitude of Spirits, of all evolutionary degrees, to communicate everywhere? Does not make sense.
According to the spirit of André Luiz, the Governor of the "astral city" himself asserts:
In "Our Home," we are more than a million creatures devoted to higher purposes and the moral improvement of ourselves.
How can we reconcile, however, the idea of millions of “creatures”, devoted to superior designs, but still so absurdly attached to earthly materialism? Does not make sense. We do not object to the idea that inferior Spirits, attached to materialism, when leaving the body, remain attached to false needs and false ideas of the earthly personality. In fact, this is abundantly demonstrated by the Spiritist Doctrine. Here, however — in theory — we speak of Spirits devoted to superior designs.
I ask: how can we admit a hierarchical organization of supposedly superior Spirits devoting themselves to the systematization and cultivation of false ideas? Bonus hours? After all, doesn't the Spiritist Doctrine teach us that charity is a moral duty, which is practiced without waiting for a return? In Nosso Lar, according to André Luiz, Narcisa's Spirit worked out of obligation, to earn the right to reincarnate:
I need to find some beloved spirits on Earth for joint upliftment services. For much time, due to my past deviations, I prayed, in vain, for the possibility necessary for my ends. She was disturbed, distressed. They advised me, however, to turn to Minister Veneranda, and our benefactor of Regeneration promised that he would endorse my purposes in the Ministry of Aid, but demanded ten consecutive years of work here, so that I can correct certain imbalances of feeling. At first, I wanted to refuse, considering the demand too much; later, I recognized that she was right. After all, the advice was not aimed at her interests but rather my own benefit. And I gained a lot by accepting his opinion. I feel more balanced and more human and I believe I will live my future experience on Earth with spiritual dignity.
Now, in addition to a superior Spirit interfering with the free will of that Spirit, demanded, against his will, the fulfillment of a “sentence”, so that she could later reincarnate. I wonder where Nosso Lar or any other spiritual colony would be, which did not interfere with the choice of Spirits like that of the Assassin Lemaire (Revista Espírita, March 1858) who thought he was strong enough to challenge himself in a type of test in the face of which succumbed. And what about the Spirit of Charles Dupont (The Spirit of Castelnaudary, RE60), who, having previously lived among savages, in another world, chose to incarnate on Earth, where, without yet having control over his instincts and emotions, he ended up killing his brother and his wife?
No, it's not possible. Our Home, with its great walls, faithfully reproduces false earthly ideas, where the "unchosen" are kept outside the walls. Our Home, with its multitude of millions of Spirits "devoted to higher purposes," would be a portrait of selfishness distracted by rampant materialism.
What a difference with the communications frequently presented by Kardec from superior Spirits! There is no attachment to materiality in his descriptions: his occupations are working for infinite Space, acting in Creation:
What are your palaces and your golden halls before the aerial abodes, the vast field of space variegated with colors that would make the rainbow pale? What are your step-by-step walks in the parks, compared to journeys through the immensity, faster than lightning? What are your limited and cloud-laden horizons, given the grand spectacle of the worlds moving in the limitless universe, under the powerful hand of the Almighty?
How are your most melodious concerts sad and noisy, in the face of this harmony that makes the fluids of the ether and all the fibers of the soul vibrate? How sad and insipid your great joys are compared to the ineffable sensation of happiness that incessantly saturates our being in the form of a beneficent effluvium, without any mixture of restlessness, any worry, any suffering! Here everything breathes love and trust and sincerity. Everywhere loving hearts, everywhere we see friends, no envious and jealous. This is the world I find myself in, my friend, and you will all reach it infallibly by following the right path.
However, uniform happiness would soon become boring. Do not think that our happiness is free from vicissitudes. This is not a perpetual concert, nor an endless party, nor of beatific contemplation through eternity. No. It is movement, life, activity. The occupations, although free from fatigue, present an incessant variety of aspects and emotions, due to the thousand incidents that contain them. Each one has their mission to fulfill, their protégés to assist, friends from Earth to visit, Nature's processes to direct, suffering souls to console. There is a back and forth, not from one street to another, but from one world to another. Creatures come together, separate to come together again; they meet here and there, they talk about what they do, they congratulate each other on their successes; They understand each other and assist each other in difficult cases. Anyway, I assure you that no one has a second of time to get bored.
Spirit of Countess Paula, Heaven and Hell
Careful reading is enough to realize that this Spirit figuratively uses the term “aerial dwellings”. What beauty, what a completely different scenario from that world of material attachment and false physiological needs presented by André Luiz in his first work, whose logical disparity with the Doctrine and common sense we cannot explain until Kardec's methodology, with the use of evocations, be recovered.
By changing our mentality, we will leave our attachment to materialism to be useful, acting, according to our possibilities, in the Good, in Divine Creation. We can learn and teach, ever. Detached, in the world of Spirits, we do not attach ourselves to things, nor to forms. The universal divine creation itself is enough for us: the Universes to travel through, the processes of Nature to participate in, the planets to visit, the souls to help and those to learn from. But the idea of Our Home is a place where we need to work to earn “spiritual money” so that we can then buy a small house, where we can have “utilities”, such as a comfortable bed, a beautiful table with spiritual mahogany chairs, where we can sit comfortably to drink a fluidic soup (sic). Sorry for the sarcasm.
As on Earth, property here is relative. Our purchases are made based on working hours. The hourly bonus, in essence, is our money. Any utilities are purchased with these coupons, obtained by ourselves, through effort and dedication.
Our home
Now, why have a house, if infinite Space serves as our Home? Why have a house if the Spirit does not feel any material need? Why protection if you don't feel fear or pain? Why soup or water if the Spirit doesn't feel thirsty? For what "aerobus“"Oh my God, if the Spirit is transported by thought—even the least elevated thoughts?"
No, Spirits do not need any of this, and only Spirits who are still very disturbed, very attached to earthly ideas, are confused with the body they left behind and believe they need rest, food, protection, etc.
39. Could you tell us what your occupations are?
– R. I have them like you; I first try to educate myself and, therefore, I mix with better societies than I am; as leisure I do good, and my life is spent in the hope of achieving greater happiness. We have no material needs to satisfy and therefore all our activity is directed towards our moral progress.
Spirit of Mrs Reynaud, RE59
There are sensations that have as their source the state of our organs. Now, the needs inherent to the body cannot be verified as long as there is no longer a body. Thus, the Spirit does not experience fatigue, nor the need for rest or food, because it has no loss to repair. He is not affected by any of our illnesses. The needs of the body determine social needs, which for them do not exist. Thus, there are no longer the worries of business, the discord, the thousand and one tribulations of the world and the torments to which we surrender to meet our needs or the superfluities of life. They feel sorry for the effort we make because of frivolities. However, the happier the elevated Spirits are, the more the lower ones suffer, but these sufferings are mainly anguish that, although they have nothing physical, are no less poignant.
KARDEC, ibid.
The case here is not to accuse Chico of lack of care. Chico was the communication tool, like a pencil in a writer's hand. No, we would have questioned the Spirit that communicated, in possession of the knowledge of all the problems and all the care that revolve around mediumship and the communication of Spirits. That's not what we did: simply accepting, placing on Chico Xavier's account the weight of responsibility for communications that we should have evaluated.
The Spirit of Countess Paula and the Aerial Dwellings
Many people use the case of this Spirit, Countess Paula, presented in Heaven and Hell, to support their theories of “astral cities”.
What are your palaces and your golden halls before the aerial abodes, the vast field of space variegated with colors that would make the rainbow pale? What are your step-by-step walks in the parks, compared to journeys through the immensity, faster than lightning? What are your limited and cloud-laden horizons, given the grand spectacle of the worlds moving in the limitless universe, under the powerful hand of the Almighty?
How are your most melodious concerts sad and noisy, in the face of this harmony that makes the fluids of the ether and all the fibers of the soul vibrate? How sad and insipid your great joys are compared to the ineffable sensation of happiness that incessantly saturates our being in the form of a beneficent effluvium, without any mixture of restlessness, any worry, any suffering! Here everything breathes love and trust and sincerity. Everywhere loving hearts, everywhere we see friends, no envious and jealous. This is the world I find myself in, my friend, and you will all reach it infallibly by following the right path.
Unfortunately, many stop reading the points that interest them. When the Spirit speaks of “aerial dwellings”, that’s enough to say that she was speaking of spiritual cities! What point do biases adopted in a hurry lead to…
Right after the quote about “aerial addresses”, he continues:
[…] the vast space field tinted with colors that would make the rainbow pale? What are your step-by-step walks in the parks, in front of Travels through the immensity, faster than lightning? What are your limited and cloud-laden horizons, compared to the grand spectacle of worlds moving in the limitless universe, under the mighty hand of the Most High?
These Spirits are talking about Space! He is not talking about astral cities, but about the Space! “Aerial addresses” is a figurative language to say about Space, “above” us!
She continues:
However, uniform happiness would soon become boring. Do not think that our happiness is free from vicissitudes. This is not a perpetual concert, nor an endless party, nor of beatific contemplation through eternity. No. It is movement, life, activity. The occupations, although free from fatigue, present an incessant variety of aspects and emotions, due to the thousand incidents that contain them. Each one has their mission to fulfill, their protégés to assist, friends from Earth to visit, Nature's processes to direct, suffering souls to console. There is a back and forth, not from one street to another, but from one world to another. Creatures come together, separate to come together again; they meet here and there, they talk about what they do, they congratulate each other on their successes; They understand each other and assist each other in difficult cases. Anyway, I assure you that no one has a second of time to get bored.
What exists “on the other side”, for detached Spirits, is action in divine creation! It is the transit through infinite Space, where they come together, here and there, with other Spirits, to act in the processes of Nature, to console suffering souls, incarnate and disembodied! That's it, and not a life limited by walls and false physiological needs!
I am always emphatic in demonstrating that the Spiritist Movement is considerably far from true Spiritism. We almost always find the Spiritist Movement, represented by the Spiritist Centers, the FEB, the USE and the speakers and representatives of these institutions, surrounded by atavisms, trapped in systems of ideas built on distortions and spiritist romances, attached to their own opinions gradually formed over decades. of a teaching distanced from Kardec and full of Roustaing, or supported on the false ideas born by adulteration of Heaven and Hell. As a result, the Spiritist Movement distanced itself from the logical and clear face of spiritual science and became a new religious variant, something that Spiritism has never been (nor will it ever be).
In the last almost four years (I write in February 2024), what I thought I knew about Spiritism has suffered a huge shock. It started with reading Allan Kardec's Legacy, followed by the reading of “Nem Heaven, Nor Hell: the laws of the soul according to Spiritism” and then went deeper with the inauguration of our Study Group, where we began to study the Spiritist Magazine and also with the reading of the works of Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, dealing both with Rational Spiritualism, a scientific-philosophical movement of the 19th century that gave basis to the emergence of Spiritism, and with the true face of Spiritism.
I am, therefore, interested in summarizing, in this article, some recommendations for the Spiritist student, wishing to free themselves from the webs of the stagnant and dogmatic Spiritist Movement, to get to know and experience true Spiritism in their lives. Let's go in order:
I hope this can be very useful to you. If you have any doubts, contact.
Download PDF of The Original Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec
The publisher FEAL recently released the free PDF of the work Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec. The big difference for this edition is that it recovers the work originally written by Allan Kardec, free from the absurd disfigurement that this work suffered in its 4th edition, tampered with after Kardec's death.
Adulteration? Yes, if you don't already know, this work was tampered with after Kardec's death and released with a huge variety of removals of original, very clear ideas and the addition of exiguous ideas to the Spiritist Doctrine, contrary to what Kardec often denied or stated. You can understand this adulteration a little better by clicking on here and also by reading “Neither Heaven Nor Hell – The laws of the soul according to Spiritism“".
Click on the link below to download the free PDF of Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec, by FEAL:
Esse texto, intitulado “Remorso e Arrependimento”, foi integralmente extraído da Revista Espírita de maio de 1860:
"I am happy to see you all united by the same faith and love for Almighty God, our divine Lord. May he always guide you on the right path and shower you with his benefits, which he will do if you make yourselves worthy.
Always love one another as brothers; help one another, and let love of neighbor not be a meaningless word to you.
Remember that charity is the most beautiful of virtues, and that of all, it is the most pleasing to God, not only that charity which gives an offering to the unfortunate, but that charity which pities the miseries of our brothers and sisters; which makes you share in their moral pain, lighten the burden that oppresses them, in order to make their pain less vivid and their lives easier.
Remember that sincere repentance obtains forgiveness for all faults, so great is God's goodness. Remorse has nothing in common with repentance. Remorse, my brothers, is already the prelude to punishment. Repentance, charity and faith will lead you to the happiness reserved for good spirits.
Go and listen to the words of a superior Spirit, beloved of God. Retreat and open your heart to the lessons he will give you."
A GUARDIAN ANGEL
Repentance, for Spiritism, is not something external, subject to a figure of others, as it is for religions: no, repentance is the movement of the Spirit that understands its own deviation and then seeks to correct itself, through the atonement and reparation.
From the doctrinal principle of Atonement, by Allan Kardec
A Brazilian Spiritist group, with unquestionable merit for its approach to practical Spiritism through evocations and dialog with the Spirits, recently published an article in which, having evoked the Spirit of Allan Kardec, he supposedly commented on the ten Moisaic laws - the Ten Commandments. In this evocation, he said something about atonement that caught our attention.
We don't doubt the possibility of this Spirit communicating. In fact, he must be very keen to do this essentially spiritist work, wherever he is called. However, reading the comments attributed to him, we find the following:
Who punishes the iniquity of the fathers in the children who hate me to the third generation.
"That would be a denial of God's sovereign justice and supreme goodness. Truly, this is what has been said: everyone will be punished for his sin. Isn't that a refutation of these sad words? The guilty atone for their faults, for which they have no regretsin a series of painful incarnations."
The conclusion is not correct. I ask you to bear with me amicably, because I'm not here to throw stones at anyone.
"The guilty atone for their faults, which they do not repent of, in a succession of painful incarnations." This leads to the idea that atonement is a punishment given by God to unrepentant spirits:
The word atone means to purify, to pay for sins. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can purify ourselves in order to be reconciled with our Heavenly Father.
Available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/true-to-the-faith/atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng
This cannot be Kardec's thinking. The third edition of Heaven and Hell contains the following, later removed in the adulteration of this work:
“8º) The duration of the punishment is subordinated to the improvement of the guilty spirit. No condemnation for a fixed time is pronounced against him. What God requires to put an end to suffering is repentance, atonement, and reparation—in short: a serious, effective improvement, as well as a sincere return to the good.”
The spirit is thus always the arbiter of its own destiny; he can prolong his sufferings by his hardening in evil, alleviate them or abbreviate them by his efforts to do good.
A sentence for any given period of time would have the double disadvantage of either continuing to affect the spirit that had been perfected, or ending while it was still in evil. God, who is just, punishes evil while it exists; and ends punishment when evil no longer exists.
Thus this expression is confirmed: I do not want the sinner to die, but for him to live, and I will accuse him UNTIL HE REPENTS
Then, in a passage removed in the 5th edition of The Genesis, he states:
"Far from replacing one exclusivism with another, Spiritism presents itself as the absolute champion of freedom of conscience. It combats fanaticism in all its forms, cutting it out at the root, announcing salvation for all good people, as well as the possibility for the most imperfect to reach, through their efforts, through atonement and reparation, the unique perfection that leads to supreme happiness. Instead of discouraging the weak, it encourages them by showing them the port they can reach."
Of course the atonement is a result of the Spirit's repentance. Before that he only suffers remorse, but sincere repentance puts him on the conscious path of reparation through atonement, the fruit of his choices (remorse and regret are different things). This is the result of all Kardec's long years of study and research, and is constantly evidenced in the Spiritist Review.
The clear evidence of adulteration, especially in Heaven and Hell, have disfigured the doctrine and tarnished Kardec's reputation as a fool who contradicts himself or someone who has lost his capacity for judgment. We have shown that item 10 of the 4th edition of this work demonstrates, without a doubt, that there has been tampering, and this tampering does not allow us to know the reality of Kardec's conclusions.
Prayer of the Spiritist student
I suggest the following thoughts, which have inspired me, as a prayer for the good Spiritist student. They are thoughts that I think are useful to reflect on before study meetings.
"Good Spirits, I'm about to start another learning activity together with the group that welcomes me. Much more than a pastime, I understand the depth of this knowledge, which over time will change me and, from me, the human family around me.
I ask my guardian Spirit and the good Spirits who guide me to inspire me with good thoughts at this time. Spirits of our mothers, fathers, grandparents, relatives or close friends; spirits of people who I may not even remember, but who may be grateful to me for the slightest good I have done them, or sympathetic to my difficulties and my will: may my thoughts be more accessible to their good influences, thus warding off the influences of those who, unhappily, even without knowing it, aim at malevolence or frivolity.
Right now, may I look inward, so as not to be hypocritical with myself. Help me to notice my inner dispositions, my mistakes, my bad habits and, perhaps, my imperfections. Before I say "but him", may I turn to myself and say "what about me?", so that I can first see the beam in my own eye before I see the speck in someone else's. May I learn not to see what is wrong with me. May I learn not to see the evil in someone else's mistake, thus creating the evil in myself. May "judge not" be clear in my mind, understanding that seeing another person's mistake should not lead me to judge them for that mistake, which they may not even be aware of and which they often commit while trying to do good.
Help me, finally, not to deceive myself. Learning can only be built through collaborative effort, and happiness is no less a joint effort. If my purpose is to learn, in order to share and help, may I, in learning, first apply the consequences of Spiritism to myself, making the effort that the true Spiritist, the one who has understood the Doctrine at the core of their Being, must make. So, wishing to be a good tool, may I use all this knowledge to develop better habits, replacing the bad ones; may I learn, day after day, to tame my emotions, counting on the good inspiration of you, my fellow Spirits, as well as the group that welcomes me with open arms.
May pride and selfishness gradually leave my being and be replaced by true humility and charity. May personalism find no place in my soul. May vanity not instigate me to think I am superior to anyone, when I am only a mere apprentice, trying to keep on the learning curve of God's Law, and may levity, still characteristic of Spirits like us, not lead me to be careless and behave like pseudo-wise Spirits, who think they know what they don't know. Let praise not instigate my vanity, which I must firmly combat, and let criticism be taken only as an opportunity for reflection. If I have mediumship, may I not think I'm infallible, nor be led to blindly believe in the Spirits who may communicate with me or inspire me, and may, when I may have my attention drawn to them, sullenness and pride be far from my thoughts.
May the innermost purposes of this group with which I sympathize be mine too, and may I learn to do my part, carrying my blocks for the effort that, together, will help to restore the foundations and re-erect the edifice of Spiritist science, so that one day it can once again illuminate the whole of humanity with its torch of light, today overshadowed by contempt and neglect.
Help me so that, leaving this meeting, I can maintain these dispositions in my daily life, knowing that true prayer is experienced every moment, through will, founded on knowledge. Intuade me, out of charity, to remember to find more moments to study this Doctrine, replacing idle time with knowledge of the Good, so that I can ultimately become a more useful individual for the group and for humanity.
Thank you, etc…
Cover photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/pt-br/foto/aluna-com-dor-de-cabeca-na-biblioteca-3808057/
We can, however, add Kardec's thoughts, in The Book of Mediums:
Finally, there are exalted spiritists. The human species would be perfect if it always preferred the bright side of things. Exaggeration is harmful in everything. In Spiritism it produces a blind and often childish trust in the manifestations of the invisible world, making people accept very easily and without control what reflection and examination would demonstrate to be absurd or impossible, as enthusiasm does not clarify, it obfuscates. This type of followers is more harmful than useful to the cause of Spiritism. They are the least capable of convincing, because their judgment is rightly suspicious. They are easily deceived by mystifying spirits or by people who seek to exploit their gullibility. If only they had to suffer the consequences, the harm would be less, but the worst thing is that they offer, although unintentionally, reasons to unbelievers who seek to mock rather than convince themselves and never fail to impute to everyone the ridiculousness of some. This is not fair or rational, without a doubt, but the opponents of Spiritism, as we know, only recognize their reason as good and do not care to know in depth what they are talking about.
KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Mediums, Lake, 23The Edition. Emphasis added.
Their position is clear: careless people who, with enthusiasm (and vanity) blindly believe in everything, do more harm than good to the Doctrine.
Exaggerations, some say
It is the opinion of some that we have exaggerated. According to them, we must “respect” each person’s faith, limiting ourselves to carrying out our work. Firstly, we need to demonstrate that there is no disrespect to anyone's faith. Everyone has free will and the right to believe whatever they want, rationally or not. But, here, we are dealing with spiritist science, and this is where the biggest problem with these people's ideas arises: the lack of knowledge of this science. Just read the Revista Espírita and other works by Kardec and you will see not only him, but also the good Spirits, often highlighting the need to expose the errors and, above all, the charlatans and enemies of the Spiritist Doctrine who, dressing their ideas under the guise of Spiritism, voluntarily or not promote the error that feeds the general discredit in Spiritism, as if it were another religion born of someone's ideas. We have already sufficiently demonstrated why Spiritism is a science, and not a religion.
Spiritism arrived in Brazil distorted
The fact is that Spiritism has already been established in Brazil, adulterated by the fledgling Spiritist Movement ((facts amply presented in Endand, in the FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation), the self-styled “home mater” of Brazilian Spiritism, far from finding ground for its restoration, it was replaced by the doctrine of Roustaing, completely based on old religious dogmas. This institution, which ended up dictating the direction of Brazilian Spiritism for a long time, never dedicated itself to recovering Spiritist science and the method necessary for the continuity of the Doctrine, with private evocations (and even in Spiritist centers), an essential tool for the scientific study, were abandoned. Without Kardec's method, and due to the interest in printing and selling mediumistic works, any idea coming from any Spirit began to be conveyed and, thus, slowly formed the general belief of the Spiritist Movement, today completely lost in ideas that, in fact, , are fundamentally anti-doctrinal.
We need to recognize, of course, that part of these ideas were founded even before the arrival of Spiritism in Brazil, with the adulteration of the works Heaven and Hell (mainly) and A Gênesis, after Kardec's death. Unfortunately, FEB is the first to defend the idea that these works have not been tampered with, a fact that, especially in relation to Heaven and Hell, is sufficiently evidenced and irrefutable.
Is talking about adulteration creating disbelief?
Here, finally, we come to another criticism from certain people: "To say there was adulteration would be to throw mud at Kardec, to incite disbelief in Spiritism." "Besides," they say, "what Doctrine is this that the Spirits allow such a thing, without warning?" It's a completely illogical thought.
We begin by remembering that the words of Christ himself were adulterated and distorted in favor of religious dogmas, and this fact was precisely what led to countless people's disbelief in Christianity. Voltaire was one of the most evident exponents of this disbelief, which still prevails today. We ask: would it be “throwing mud” at Jesus to highlight the adulterations? Would it “raise disbelief” in Christianity, highlighting distortions, while demonstrating original ideas? Obviously not. If the problem has occurred, we need to face it head on (a scientific and truly Kardecian attitude), and not sweep it under the rug while its overwhelming effects persist.
To the idea that “the Spirits would not have permitted adulterations,” we oppose the strong recommendation to study the Doctrine, which evidently was not done by these people. The Spirits warned several times about the plots of the enemies of the Doctrine, as we demonstrated in Prophecy of the Spirit of Truth. Based on the warnings and evidence, Kardec also predicted the future of Spiritism, as highlighted in the Spiritist Magazine of December 1863, in the article “Period of Struggles”:
The struggle will determine a new phase of Spiritism and will lead to the fourth period, which will be the religious period. Then the fifth will come, the intermediate period, natural consequence of the precedent and which, later, will receive its characteristic name. The sixth and final period will be the social renewal, which will open the era of the twentieth century. At that time, all obstacles to the new order of things desired by God for the transformation of the Earth will have disappeared. The generation that emerges, imbued with new ideas, will be in all its strength and will prepare the way for what must inaugurate the definitive victory of union, peace and fraternity among men, united in the same belief, through the practice of the evangelical law.
KARDEC, Allan. Spiritist Magazine, December 1863.
Unfortunately, the forecast for the sixth period is delayed by more than a century, due to several unpredictable facts at that time, such as the abandonment of Rational Spiritualism and Spiritist Science, in addition to the adulteration of the works cited. Then, the wars, the forgetfulness of the Doctrine in France and Europe and its installation in Brazil, completely distorted.
Spirits do not impede human free will
We remember, to finish, that the core of the Spiritist Doctrine, always demonstrated by the Spirits, is free will, which the Spirits cannot interfere with. They can advise, but they cannot hinder the human will. They did so: they advised extensively on the need for care that, unfortunately, was lacking from those who should take care of the master's legacy. It seems that the French Spiritist Movement was very comfortable with Kardec's direction and, when this was supposed to change, from mid-1869 (as exposed in the Spiritist Magazine of December 1868, “Transitional Constitution of Spiritism”) Kardec died, and all they were left aimless. Leymarie assuming the direction of the Spiritist Society, distorted the purpose of the Spiritist Magazine, admitting the Roustainuist doctrine in exchange for money, and the reader can find out the rest by reading the works Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato, Neither Heaven nor Hell, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo and End, by Wilson Garcia.
Good in the midst of mistakes
Many say: “the Spiritist Movement, in the midst of many mistakes, still produces good. It’s not wrong at all.” We couldn't disagree with that. We do not say that there is error or mistake in everything and that no good is produced. A mediumistic romance, even though it is full of wrong ideas, can be the gateway to the questioning individual go after more information, ending up getting to know Kardec's works, in short. But, we ask: wouldn't it be better if Spiritism were presented as it is, simple and rational, without the absurdities that produce so many setbacks and that very often lead to disbelief? We cannot fail to highlight that, when space is created for a mistake, within a science, and this mistake is not remedied by theory and doctrinal facts, it gives rise to many others. That's what has happened.
Restoration
The time has come to restore Spiritism, which has already begun in Brazil and will spread throughout the world. The first step is to learn Spiritism as it truly is, moving away from errors. Those who, called “spiritists”, do not wish to do so, will join a new religion, if they wish, as dogmatic as the others. Let's let time take care of them, but that doesn't mean we stop doing our part, presenting the errors, in the face of the Spiritist Doctrine, without personalism. Then, the time will come to restore Kardec's method. These two steps will give rise to the possibility of the sixth period foreseen by Kardec: that of social renewal.
Be part of this journey, which is collective and will only happen through the collaboration of many.
The strongest evidence of tampering with Allan Kardec's Heaven and Hell
They are undisputed legal facts at tampering of A Gênesis and O Céu e o Inferno, for the mere reason that editions were released, with changes, after the death of the author and without legal deposit – this is what at least four specialized legal operators say: Simoni Private, Julio Nogueira, Lucas Sampaio and Marcelo Henrique. That cool fact it is above of any consideration and, because of this, spiritist federations from other countries, respecting the law, returned to the third edition of the work. Unfortunately, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, having a lot to recapitulate when taking this attitude (since the original text of A Gênesis contradicts a multitude of errors that populate most of the publications edited and printed by it) still resists these facts, basing itself in layman arguments on copyright matters.
In addition to the legal fact and the necessary respect for the law, through the study we have just identified another piece of evidence, perhaps the most decisive of all, of the adulteration of Heaven and Hell, the work of Allan Kardec, precisely in the part that expressed the doctrinal philosophy in its clearest and purest face.
In The Spirits' Book, Kardec deals with the issue of spirits who have always chosen the path of good (we also dealt with this in the article "Intimate Reform and Spiritism“:
There are spirits who have always chosen the path of good
121. Why do some Spirits follow the path of good and others the path of evil?
“Don’t they have free will? God did not create evil spirits; He created them simple and ignorant, that is, having as much aptitude for good as for evil. Those who are evil became so of their own free will.”
133. The Spirits who From the beginning they followed the path of good?
“All are created simple and ignorant and are instructed in the struggles and tribulations of bodily life. God, who is just, could not make some happy, without toil and work, therefore without merit.”
The) - But, then, what is the use of spirits to have followed the path of good, if this does not exempt them from the sufferings of bodily life?
"They reach the end faster. Furthermore, the afflictions of life are often the consequence of the imperfection of the Spirit. The fewer imperfections, the less torment. He who is not envious, nor jealous, nor avaricious, nor ambitious, will not suffer the tortures that originate from these defects.”
The Spirits' Book. Emphasis added.
Confirmed by the Spirits, there are those who have always chosen the path of goodness, which does not free them from the need to incarnate for their development. Thus, they have nothing to atone for, since atonement is the conscious choice of tests and opportunities that help them to let go of imperfections they have consciously acquired (remembering that merely making a mistake is not acquiring imperfections, as long as the mistake is overcome through learning. What generates imperfections is the conscious repetition of the mistake).
Furthermore, it is only logical that those who have overcome an acquired imperfection through atonement have nothing more to atone for, except if they develop new imperfections. Even so, they may need to be born on a planet like Earth, simply because their current needs demand it or because they choose to incarnate on a mission. Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate example of the latter, and even though he was a pure Spirit, he still faced the vicissitudes of matter without having anything to atone for. Look where admitting these false ideas leads: to the dogma of Spirits created apart and who have never actually been among us (a dogma supported by Roustaing)!
Strong evidence of tampering with Heaven and Hell
And here we come to the proof of the adulteration of Heaven and Hell, which, in the edition released after Kardec's death, introduced two items in chapter VIII (which became chapter VII):
9th — Every fault committed, every evil done, is a debt contracted that must be paid; If it is not so in one existence, it will be so in the next or subsequent ones, because all existences are in solidarity with each other. Whoever pays it off in the present existence will not have to pay a second time.
10 - The Spirit suffers the penalty of its imperfections, whether in the spirit world or in the corporeal world. All the miseries, all the vicissitudes we endure in corporeal life are the result of our imperfections, expiations of faults committed, whether in the present existence or in previous ones.
Heaven and Hell, fourth edition. FEB. My emphasis.
These two items, I repeat, did not exist in the third edition of the work, released and printed by Kardec during his lifetime. To admit that Kardec included these items in that edition, especially item 10, would be to admit that Kardec contradicted everything he had developed up to that point.
To support this false idea, the following paragraphs were removed in the adulteration, in chapter IX (formerly chapter X):
In the first stages of their existence, spirits are subject to material incarnation, which is necessary for their development, until they have reached a certain level. The number of incarnations is indeterminate and is subordinate to the speed of progress, which occurs in direct proportion to the work and good will of the spirit, who always acts according to their free will. Those who, due to their carelessness, negligence, obstinacy or bad will, remain in the lower classes for longer, suffer the consequences, and the habit of evil makes it difficult for them to get out of this state. One day, however, they get tired of this painful existence and the suffering that comes with it. Then, when they compare their situation to that of the good spirits, they realize that their interest lies in doing good and they try to improve themselves, but they do so of their own free will, without being forced to do so. They are subject to the law of progress because of their ability to progress, but they don't do it against their will. God constantly provides them with the means to progress, but they are free to take advantage of them or not. If progress were obligatory, spirits would have no merit, and God wants everyone to have the merit of their works, privileging no one with the first place, a position granted to all, but which they achieve only through their own efforts. The highest angels earned their position by traveling the same route as everyone else. Everyone, from the top to the bottom, has belonged or still belongs to humanity.
Men are therefore more or less advanced incarnate spirits, and spirits are the souls of men who have left their material shell. Spiritual life is the normal life of the spirit. The body is nothing more than a temporary garment, appropriate to the functions it must perform on Earth, just as a warrior puts on his armor and chain mail for the moment of combat, then takes them off after the battle, only to put them on again when the time comes for a new fight. Corporeal life is the battle that spirits must face in order to advance, so they put on this armor which is both an instrument of action and an embarrassment.
When they incarnate, spirits bring with them their inherent qualities. Imperfect spirits therefore make up imperfect people; those who are more advanced, good, intelligent, educated, are instinctively good, intelligent people who can easily acquire new knowledge. In the same way, when people die, they provide the spirit world with good or bad, advanced or backward spirits. The corporeal world and the spiritual world thus constantly supply each other.
Among the evil spirits there are those who have all the perversity of demons, to whom we can perfectly apply the image we have of the latter. When they are incarnate, they are perverse and cunning men who delight in evil, seemingly created for the misfortune of all those who are drawn into their intimacy, and of whom it can be said - without it being offensive - that they are demons incarnate.
Having reached a certain degree of purification, spirits are given missions compatible with their advancement, thus performing all the functions attributed to angels of different orders. As God has always created, there have always been enough spirits to meet all the needs of the government of the Universe. A single species of intelligent beings, subject to the law of progress, is therefore sufficient for everything. This unity in creation, together with the idea that everyone has the same common origin, the same path to follow, and that they all rise by their own merit, corresponds much better to God's justice than the creation of different species, more or less favored by natural gifts, equivalent to privileges.
Heaven and Hell – Editora FEAL
Note, also, the following excerpt from The Spirits' Book (emphasis added):
Being the vicissitudes of bodily life expiation of past faults and, at the same time, trials with a view to the future, it will follow that from the nature of such vicissitudes it can be inferred what kind of existence was the previous one?
" Very often this is possible , since each one is punished for what he sinned. However, there is no absolute rule to be drawn from this.. Instinctive tendencies constitute a more reliable indication, since the tests that the Spirit goes through are determined both by what concerns the past and by what concerns the future.”
This is very important. Kardec, in his works, always builds on the foundations, repeatedly repeating what was already understood as fact in Spiritist science. When he needed to contradict a point, to correct his understanding, he was very clear about it. Thus, "out of nowhere," Kardec would have contradicted the Doctrine to say the following, establishing a rule:
“By the nature of the sufferings and vicissitudes endured in corporeal life , one can judge the nature of the faults committed in a previous existence, and the imperfections that are their cause.” (Allan Kardec, Heaven and Hell, 4th edition, adulterated).
Do you see how inconsistent this is with Kardec's understanding of Spiritism and his approach? He would have done the same in the paragraph preceding this one, which is impossible, since he would later contradict these erroneous opinions again in Genesis. This is crucial, as this idea is directly linked to the Roustainguist influence in the adulteration of this work, in the chapter that is essentially the core, the foundation of Spiritist moral theory.
More evidence of the original idea
Below are some more excerpts from Kardec's work that show the true understanding of the subject (incarnation is not exclusively the result of atonement):
According to a system that is somewhat specious at first glance, spirits were not created to incarnate and incarnation would only be the result of their lack. Such a system is undermined by the mere fact that if no spirit had failed, there would be no human beings on Earth or on other worlds. Now, since man's presence is necessary for the material improvement of the worlds; since he contributes by his intelligence and activity to the general work, he is one of the essential cogs in Creation. God could not subordinate the accomplishment of this part of his work to the eventual fall of his creatures, unless he counted on an ever-sufficient number of guilty people to provide laborers for the worlds created and yet to be created. Common sense rejects such an idea.
KARDEC. Spiritist Review - 1863 > June > On the principle of the non-retrogradation of the Spirit. Emphases added.
In this article, in this passage, Kardec is evidently firmly refuting the same idea conveyed in Roustaing's Four Gospels (which would only be released in 1865), that incarnation would only take place for atonement, that is, when the Spirit is "guilty":
The idea of incarnation as punishment, we said, is an idea totally linked to Roustaing's dogmas:
N. 59. Which is what we should think of the opinion that goes like this: "In the same way that, for the Spirit in a state of formation, materialization in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms and in the intermediate species, and likewise incarnation in the animal kingdom and in the intermediate species, is a necessity and not a punishment resulting from a fault committed, so, too, for the formed Spirit, which already has independent intelligence, awareness of its faculties, awareness and freedom of its actions, free will and is in a state of innocence and ignorance, incarnation, first in primitive lands, then in the lower and higher worlds, until it has reached perfection, is a necessity and not a punishment"?
"No, human incarnation is not a necessity, it's a punishment, we've already said that. And punishment cannot precede guilt."
The Spirit is not humanized, we have already explained this, before the first lack subjected it to human incarnation. Only then is he prepared, as we have already shown, to suffer the consequences.
ROUSTAING, Jean B. Four Gospels, Tome I, item 59
It's easy to see the similarity between this idea and the one introduced in the 4th edition of Heaven and Hell: that incarnation only takes place when the Spirit is guilty of a previous error.
Let's continue with the evidence of Kardec's original idea and the Doctrine:
132. What is the purpose of the incarnation of spirits?
"God imposes the incarnation on them in order to bring them to perfection. For some, it is an atonement; for others, it is a mission. But in order to reach this perfection, they have to suffer all the vicissitudes of bodily existence: that's the atonement [...].
The Book of Spirits
For some, it's atonement; for others, it's a mission. "In order to achieve this perfection, they have to suffer all the vicissitudes of bodily existence: that is what the atonement is," in other words, the atonement, treated in the religious world as a process of remission of sins by divine punishment, here, for Spiritism, is just the process of learning and development of the Spirit.
However, fatality is not an empty word. It exists in the position man occupies on Earth and in the functions he performs there, as a result of the kind of life his Spirit has chosen as a test, atonement or mission. He fatally suffers all the vicissitudes of this existence and all the good or bad tendencies that are inherent to it.
The Book of Spirits
The Spirit suffers the vicissitudes of the existence chosen by the Spirit, as a test, atonement or mission.
Is incarnation a punishment and are only guilty spirits subject to it?
Spirits' passage through corporeal life is necessary so that they can fulfill, through material action, the designs that God has entrusted to them. It is necessary for their own sake, since the activity they are obliged to carry out helps them to develop their intelligence. Being sovereignly just, God has to distribute everything equally to all his children; that's why he has established for everyone the same starting point, the same aptitude, the same obligations to fulfill and the same freedom to proceed. Any privilege would be a preference, an injustice. But incarnation is only a temporary state for all spirits. It is a task that God imposes on them when they begin life, as their first experience of the use they will make of their free will. Those who perform this task with zeal quickly and less painfully pass through the first stages of initiation and enjoy the fruits of their labors sooner. On the other hand, those who misuse the freedom that God has given them slow down their progress and, no matter how obstinate they are, they can prolong the need for reincarnation indefinitely, in which case it becomes a punishment. - St. Louis (Paris, 1859)
KARDEC. The Gospel according to Spiritism > Chapter IV - No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again > Instructions from the Spirits. > Necessities of incarnation. > 25. Our emphasis.
Of course, the Spirits show that incarnation is necessary for everyone, so that while they develop, they play their part in Creation.
Examples of immediate punishment are less rare than you might think. If we were to go back to the source of all the vicissitudes of life, we would almost always see the natural consequence of some fault committed. Man receives terrible lessons at every moment, which unfortunately he makes very little use of.
The Spiritist Review, 1864
Almost always the sources of all the vicissitudes of life go back to the natural consequence of some fault committed.
[The good man] Knows that all the vicissitudes of life, all the pain, all the disappointments, are trials or atonements, and accepts them without murmuring.
The Gospel According to Spiritism
All the vicissitudes of life are trials or atonements. Trial: everything that helps us learn, all of life's difficulties. Atonement: certain types of trials, chosen to exercise detachment from an acquired imperfection.
"The disciples' question 'Is this man's sin the cause of his being born blind' indicates an intuition of a previous existence. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense, because the sin that would be the cause of a birth defect would have to have been committed before birth and, consequently, in a previous existence. If Jesus had seen a false idea there, he would have said: "How could this man have sinned before he was among us?" Instead, he told them that if the man is blind, it doesn't mean that he has sinned, but in order for God's power to shine in him; it's like saying that he should be the instrument of a manifestation of God's power. If this was not an atonement for the past, it was a test that should serve his progress, because God, who is just, could not impose suffering on him without compensation."
KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis. 4th edition. “Blind from Birth”. Emphasis added.
In this passage, where Kardec deals with Jesus' healing of blindness, he makes the following observation: "If this was not an atonement for the past, it is proof that it should serve your progress". This means that for him, and in accordance with Spiritism, vicissitudes are not only an atonement, but also a learning tool. This passage even appears in the 5th edition of Genesis (the adulterated edition), and Kardec cannot have contradicted himself in his ideas in each of his works. This is not the Kardec we know.
Reason for adulteration
Anyone who is seriously investigating the subject, and who has also investigated the adulteration of Genesis, will notice something in common between the two adulterations: the principle of the dogma of incarnation as the result of punishment for sin - a strongly limiting and imprisoning dogma, echoed by Roustaing and taught by the mystifying spirits who communicated with him through the medium Emilie Collignon. Contra a sua teoria, existe um simples detalhe: Jesus.
Jesus, the most evolved Spirit ever to incarnate among us, had nothing to "pay", since he was a pure Spirit. How can this problem be solved? By saying that Jesus didn't incarnate, but was in fact an agenere, that is, a materialized Spirit, who simply deceived us throughout his trajectory.
The point is that, in Heaven and Hell, the doctrinal ideas that showed incarnation as necessary for everyone, good and bad, were removed, and the idea that everything we go through is the result of atonement for mistakes in past lives was added (item 10, chapter 7, Penal Code of the Future Life); in the adulteration of Genesis, not by chance, item 67 of chapter XV was removed and, as Henri Netto demonstrates,
[…] the renumbering of item 68 as if it were item 67 hides the logical assessment (albeit in terms of suppositions) of the fate of Yeshua's bodily envelope after his burial. What would be Kardec's reason, after repelling the docetist thesis ("fluidic body" of Jesus), and affirming his human nature, for suppressing his judicious considerations on the subject?
In other words: in Genesis, in order to support the adulterations of Heaven and Hell, the idea that demonstrates, by unequivocal example, that incarnation is not just for atonement (adding here that atonement is the conscious act of choosing trials with the aim of returning to goodness, for those Spirits who, in the minority, chose to be attached to error and thus developed imperfections) was attacked. A doctrinal idea has been removed, even though the recommendation of the Spirit who communicated to Kardec on the subject of the new edition was not to remove anything related to doctrinal ideas.
Conclusion
Either Kardec made this change, or he didn't make this change. If he made this change himself, then he contradicted his entire previous understanding and, furthermore, he demonstrates an altered state of mental health, since he contradicted this idea in A Gênese, including in its fifth edition, as we demonstrated above.
Now, knowing that Kardec makes his understanding very clear that incarnation cannot be the exclusive result of atonement, and knowing his state of sound mental health up until the day of his death, we can only come to one conclusion: this work has been tampered with.
The change is very clear: "All the miseries, all the vicissitudes that we endure in corporeal life are the result of our imperfections, expiations of faults committed." This is clearly Roustaing's idea. This is clearly Roustaing's idea, and the essence of this chapter has been lost with the alteration, in order to implement the same dogmas that this gentleman accepted and defended:
"No, human incarnation is not a necessity, it's a punishment, we've already said that. And punishment cannot precede guilt."
ROUSTAING, Jean B. Four Gospels, Tome I, item 59
Many will say that item 16 of chapter VII of Heaven and Hell (the adulterated version) contains the same principle removed from the original item 8:
16 - Repentance is the first step towards perfection; but it alone is not enough; atonement and reparation are still needed.
Repentance, atonement and reparation are the three conditions necessary to erase the traces of a fault and its consequences.
El arrepentimiento suaviza el dolor de la expiación, dando esperanza y preparando el camino para la rehabilitación; pero sólo la reparación puede anular el efecto destruyendo la causa; el perdón sería una gracia, no una anulación.
However, we ask: what do repentance, atonement and reparation become, when subjected to the ideas inserted by adulteration, if not the fulfillment of a sentence or a punishment? What does error, part of learning, become if not a condemnation? And, looking at it from this angle, we ask: the individual who is led to think this way, how does he act towards life? Does he or she act austerely, trying to overcome the mistake, or, believing himself or herself condemned, does he or she submit to inaction or, worse, slip into even more mistakes? What about your neighbor, who is suffering the vicissitudes of life? Do you see in them a brother or sister who needs our support, a being capable of overcoming their difficulties through learning, or do you see in them another condemned person, about whom nothing can be done, since they are serving their sentence? Finally: does all this lead to a state of cooperation, in search of progress, or does it lead to materialism and selfishness?
These are questions that everyone has to ask themselves, in possession of the knowledge that, for me, took three years to clarify and establish. Maybe, with all this, I can help to shorten that time for you.
Enemies of good strive to delay it
It is very clear that the most important chapter of Heaven and Hell, precisely the one that contained the essence of the doctrinal philosophy, was deliberately adulterated. The ideas originally established were completely remodeled according to dogmas linked to the idea of the fall through sin, delaying the development of Spiritism on the face of the Earth by more than 150 years. Enough. Now it's time to recover and study. We recommend reading our Recommended Works.
The efforts of those who try to master the truth are linked to old-world conceptions. They are spirits who are still incapable of understanding the essence of Spiritism and who, consciously or not, are fighting against its ideas of autonomy and freedom. As Kardec would say, let time take care of them.
They claim to have summarily proved that there was no tampering and thus refuted all evidence to the contrary. I therefore ask these individuals to explain this illogical and contradictory alteration to the whole doctrine.
How priests act
For Leymarie, the facts and the discussion about them did not matter. To maintain his version, he aimed to dominate the truth with various subterfuges. He tried to take control of spiritualist opinion and hid everything he could testify against his ideas. Those who contradict the facts of adulteration with a “siren song”, as Marcelo Henrique would say, also act in this way.
A few days ago, I commented on the video “Was the Book of Genesis really tampered with?”, published on the Grupo Espírita Revelare channel, on YouTube:
It's no coincidence that my comments don't appear to anyone else, as I'm hidden on the channel.
Allan Kardec and the moral revolution of humanity
The following article contains content kindly made available by Centro Espírita Nosso Lar – Casas André Luiz, and corresponds to the event recently held by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo on the highlighted topic.
The presentation can be easily downloaded through from this link and can also be heard on Podcast, the audio of which we provide below.
Fabric softener ruins clothes.
Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo's lecture explains exactly what this statement has to do with a change in mindset. Click below to listen to it:
The following are the topics of the lecture, which can be checked in the presentation provided and in the audio exposed above.
ENCOUNTER WITH SPIRITIST CULTURE – Allan Kardec and the moral revolution of humanity
