Did you know that Kardec has a real “treatise on social philosophy”? So it is. We will demonstrate this below, but first, let's talk a little about the current state of human society.

Much has been said about the moment we are going through: the social transformations, the commotions, the transition period we are going through towards a planet of regeneration. However, there is a huge shadow hovering over the collective imagination, accustomed to materialistic or emergency workers. It seems that wherever we look, there is nothing but sadness, pain and contempt. we get used to to look at our neighbor as an enemy, as someone willing to do us harm or, at best, to ignore our mere existence. It happens, however, that we are a society that is far from the essential concepts of spirituality and the good. We say we are spiritists, or spiritualists, to, however, for lack of studying Spiritism, materialize the world of spirits, which should be the target of consolation, away from the miseries of the flesh and, when we deal with human beings, we get used to forgetting that , inside and outside that body, there is a Spirit that commands everything, and that is the origin of all its action.

As we will see in Kardec, it is a false assumption to believe that “humanity is lost”, as many have heard. No: humanity is just distracted, because it has ceased to know what underlies moral development. Here's what we're going to recover, in this article.

We have forgotten, we have said, about Kardec, but we are also unaware of everything that was called moral elements, existing in Rational Spiritualism and so well defined by Paul Janet ((JANET, Paul. SMALL ELEMENTS OF MORAL)) to later serve as a basis and be developed, in practice, through the study of Spiritism. There was, with the rational spiritualists, the theory, based on reason, that the human being is an incarnated Spirit, responding to the laws of God, but it was mainly with Kardec that this theory was developed in a practical way, through the study of manifestations spiritists, a study that, at the hands of Allan Kardec, lasted for about twelve years, and which culminated in the most beautiful and elevated philosophical treatises that humanity has ever known, because they are based on ourselves, Spirits, on our journey towards the happiness.

Contained in the original pages of The Genesis ((We use the work by publisher FEAL, based on the 1st French edition, original)), before tampering post-mortem of its fifth edition, at the end of this work of scientific and moral content, there are Kardec's reflections on the social theme and the evolution of humanity. Let's go to it:

signs of the times

Under this title, Kardec begins chapter XVIII of the work, the last, and perhaps the most beautiful of all. Kardec, on the release date of this work, was just over a year away from his death. In it, he demonstrates that humanity inevitably follows the movement of progress, since it is a Law of Nature, that is, a Law of God, which never rests. According to Kardec:

Humanity has made undeniable progress so far. Men, by their intelligence, have reached results that they had never achieved in relation to Science, Arts and material well-being. They still have immense progress to make: to make charity, fraternity and solidarity reign among them in order to ensure their moral well-being.

Leaving the state of childhood, humanity entered a new era, where the necessary moral development would take place, destroying, in itself, all the passions, that is, anything that could give rise to imperfections:

It is no longer just the development of intelligence that is necessary for men, it is the elevation of feelings and, therefore, it is necessary to destroy everything that can over-excite selfishness and pride.

We need to understand that Kardec saw all of this with enormous optimism. Inserted in the context of Rational Spiritualism and Moral Sciences and with the rapid development and wide acceptance of Spiritism by educated men, he predicted that, with the exception of some difficulties, the moral revolution through Spiritism would take great strides. He could not have predicted, however, that, after his death, everything would take such an adverse turn, with the prohibition of the teaching of Moral Sciences in France, the deviation of the Spiritist Movement, mainly by Leymarie((To understand these facts well, it is important to read The Legacy of Allan Kardec, by Simoni Privato)), and the wars, finally, that just launched the world into the necessary search for care in daily survival — in other words, man had to worry much more about matters of matter , not having the opportunity, for a long time, to take care of the things of the Spirit.

Kardec believed that this period definitely marked a new moral phase for the human Spirit:

This is the period we enter from now on and will mark one of the main phases of humanity. This phase, which is currently being worked out, is the necessary complement of the previous state, as adulthood is the complement of youth. It could, therefore, be foreseen and announced in advance, so we can say that the times marked by God have arrived.

At this time, it is not a question of a partial change, of a renewal limited to a region, a people, a race; it is a universal movement that operates in the direction of moral progress. It tends to establish a new order of things, and the men who are its greatest opponents unknowingly contribute to this.

And then, he completes, as if he were talking exactly about the current moments, where philosophers fight spirituality:

It is at this precise moment, when one finds oneself excessively oppressed in one's material sphere, where intellectual life overflows and the feeling of spirituality flourishes, that men claiming to be philosophers intend to fill the void with doctrines of neantism ((Doctrine of nothingness, nihilism)) and materialism! Strange aberration! These men, who intend to boost humanity, strive to circumscribe it within the limits of matter, from which it seeks to escape. They hide the perspective of infinite life and say to him, showing the tomb: Nec plus ultra ((Latin expression meaning “nothing beyond!”))!

the social spirit

So, as we said, looking at the result of more than a hundred years of exacerbated materialism and denial of human spirituality, we see, in society, the evil of passions installed: war, violence, selfishness, pride, vanity, Avarice, in short, everything that is the result of not knowing something better and more important, takes over the social environment, where it is not possible to identify the Gospel maxim, “do to others what you would like to be done to yourself. – Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you.” We also live under a treaty of social philosophy, but it is materialistic and nihilistic!

Man, stuck in materialistic ideas, forgets that there is a future. He forgets that, in addition to the body, there is his true life, eternal life, which extends from far to infinity, and he ignores, therefore, that it is up to his efforts to live the good, by fulfilling the divine laws for himself and towards all others, sooner or later attain the happiness reserved for the good. Says Kardec:

By the law of the plurality of existences, man is related to what he has done and what he will do with the men of the past and those of the future; it can no longer say that it has nothing in common with the dead, for both of them meet constantly, in this world and in the next, to ascend together the scale of progress, providing mutual support. Fraternity is no longer restricted to a few individuals united by chance during the short, ephemeral duration of a life, but is perpetual like the life of the Spirit, universal like humanity, which constitutes a great family where all the members are in solidarity with one another. others, whatever the time in which they lived.

Now, how to wish for a fraternal humanity if it lives today, wishing for tomorrow, only with the purpose of supplying its individual material needs and pleasures, ignoring that, in addition to pains and joys, inherent to matter, the Spirit continues, so evolved how much did you try to do? See: the action of the Spirit with society is not an imposition, but a consequence, because the one who understands and starts to live the good in itself, out of moral obligation, extends a helping hand to others:

Fraternity will be the cornerstone of the new social order, but there is no real, solid and effective fraternity without being supported by an unshakable foundation. That basis is faith; not faith in this or that particular dogmas that change with the times and peoples and stone each other, because, by cursing each other, they maintain antagonism. But faith in fundamental principles that everyone can accept: God, the soul, the future, UNLIMITED INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS, THE PERPETUITY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN BEINGS. When men are convinced that God is the same for all; that God, sovereignly just and good, cannot will anything that is unjust; that evil comes from them and not from Him, then all will be considered children of the same Father and will stretch out their hands to one another.

Regarding the materialism of his time, Kardec says that “a no less characteristic sign of the period into which we have entered is the evident reaction that takes place in the direction of spiritualist ideas. ((The reaction to spiritualist ideas occurred in opposition to the post-French Revolution materialist period, represented by ideologists (Destutt de Tracy, Cabanis, Volney, etc.). Rational spiritualists, after 1830, such as Royer-Collard, Victor Cousin, Théodore Jouffroy, among others, established Philosophical Sciences at the University of Paris (and in schools), including Theoretical and Practical Morals, Experimental Psychology, Theodicy, considering the human being as an “incarnated soul”. According to Kardec, Spiritism is found among these Sciences, giving them development. (N. do E.))); an instinctive repulsion manifests itself against materialistic ideas“. Today, on the contrary, we see materialist ideas being defended on all sides. However, we see another movement: society, more and more, rejects the dogmatic ideas of religions, causing a massive emptying of the ranks of religious organizations - including the Brazilian Spiritist Movement, which has become a religion, full of dogmas. It is interesting to note that the religions that still hold some attraction for people are precisely those that spend more time cultivating materialistic ideas than the other way around.

This is actually a move positive. We cannot forget that the spiritualist movement, which gave rise to Rational Spiritualism and, later, to Spiritism, was born in opposition to the materialist ideas of its time, which, in turn, were also born in opposition to the dogmas of religions. Man became materialist because he had nothing better to believe in, until spiritualist and spiritist philosophies developed - which is precisely why they gained so many followers in a short time and among the most educated classes of society.

The movement that is operating in the present, after a gigantic fall that lasted for more than a century, also leads to this result, and we can already see nascent signs of this work that is being carried out, and the recovery of spiritualist philosophy and science spiritism and magnetism are the first steps to support all this:

The new generation will march towards the realization of all humanitarian ideas compatible with the degree of progress at which it has reached. Spiritism, advancing towards the same goal and achieving its objectives, will meet it again on the same ground. Men favorable to progress will find in spiritist ideas a powerful resource, and Spiritism will find, in new men, spirits fully willing to accept it. Faced with this combination of circumstances, what can anyone who wants to stand in your way do?

Spiritism did not create social renewal, because the maturity of humanity makes this renewal a necessity. For its moralizing power, for its progressive tendencies, for the elevation of its purposes, for the generality of the questions that it embraces, Spiritism is, more than all other doctrines, able to support the regenerating movement.

Curious: at certain moments, it seems that Kardec is writing about the current moment. The scenario repeats itself: humanity, not having been able to take advantage of the development of spiritualist ideas, has only been delayed. But, as always, having known the height of evil, man begins to seek new answers to his moral desolation.

The age of regeneration: the stretch we didn't know

In the tampering of this conclusive work, the losses were enormous, especially due to the numerous deletions carried out. If you wish, compare this last chapter and you will see how much it has been mutilated. In the original version, there is a very deep thought, but also hard, by Allan Kardec, regarding the resistance found by Spiritism, among those who are definitely not ready for this order of ideas, because their spiritual age has not yet achieved such resourcefulness. Follow:

Saying that humanity is ripe for regeneration does not mean that all individuals are on the same level, but many have, by intuition, the germ of new ideas that circumstances will make blossom. Then, they will show themselves to be more advanced than one might suppose and will diligently follow the majority's initiative((The majority of individuals are just distracted. They are not necessarily bad, nor do they use their intelligence for evil, but they just don't use it for the good. give them better things, and they will quickly come to reason again)).

There are, however, those who are essentially refractory to these ideas, even among the most intelligent, and who will certainly not accept them, at least in this lifetime.; in some cases, in good faith, out of conviction; others out of interest. sThey are those whose material interests are linked to the current situation and who are not advanced enough to give them up, because the general good matters less than their personal good. – are apprehensive at the slightest reform movement. Truth is a secondary matter for them, or, rather, the truth for certain people lies entirely in that which does not cause them any trouble. All progressive ideas are, from their point of view, subversive ideas, and for that reason they have an implacable hatred for them and make an obstinate war against them. They are intelligent enough to see in Spiritism an aid to progressive ideas and the elements of transformation that they fear and, because they do not feel up to it, they strive to destroy it.. If they thought him worthless and unimportant, they wouldn't worry about him. We have already said it elsewhere: “The more grandiose an idea is, the more it finds opponents, and its importance can be measured by the violence of the attacks to which it is the object”.

The number of stragglers is still large, no doubt, but what can they do against the rising wave, but throw a few stones at it? This wave is the generation that rises, while they disappear with the generation that leaves each day with great strides. Until then, they will defend the ground step by step; there is, therefore, an inevitable struggle, but an unequal struggle, because it is that of the decrepit past that falls in rags against the young future; of stagnation against progress, of the creature against the will of God, because the times appointed by Him have arrived.

Unfortunately, for all that happened, intelligent but refractory individuals found space to spread their ideas that, today, hinder the progress of humanity. The laggards, “neither here nor there”, having nothing to inspire, just remained, for the most part, laggards. They are spirits that, many times, do not want evil, but do not have any understanding of what is good and the need for their own transformation, which is why they fall into the tale of materialism, operating as masses in favor of the former.

the planet of regeneration

Many believe that the planet of regeneration will be reached by a divine imposition, where, in a magic pass, the bad ones will be expelled and the good ones will conquer their deserved paradise. Nothing further from the truth (and from reason). Kardec highlights that

For men to be happy on Earth, it must be populated only by good spirits, incarnate and disembodied, who only want the good. That time having arrived, a great emigration will take place at that time among its inhabitants. Those who do evil for evil and are not touched by the feeling of good, being no longer worthy of the transformed Earth, will be excluded, because they would bring discord and confusion again and would be an obstacle to progress. These will atone for their hardening, some in inferior worlds, others among backward terrestrial races that will be the equivalent of the inferior worlds, where they will take their acquired knowledge and whose mission will be to advance them. They will be replaced by better spirits who will make justice, peace and fraternity reign among them.

Planet Earth will only change for the better when the Spirits that incarnate on it have changed for the better. This transformation will not take place in an instant, however: it takes place on a daily basis, in the process of disincarnation and incarnation of Spirits, because a part of the Spirits that previously incarnated here, will no longer incarnate, as they are no longer able to live here.

This, of course, demonstrates the slowness of this process. However, this process can be leveraged by a new order of ideas, which are those of Spiritism, which was born precisely for this:

The new generation, having to establish the era of moral progress, is distinguished by a generally precocious intelligence and reason, added to the innate feeling of goodness and spiritualist beliefs. It is the indisputable sign of a certain degree of earlier advancement. It will never be composed exclusively of eminently superior spirits, but of those who, having already progressed, are willing to assimilate all progressive ideas and able to support the regenerating movement.

We must not believe, however, that all the laggards will be expelled from the Earth, although this idea pleases many of us, as we think that this would be better, in order to let's get rid of of those who embarrass the general happiness. We need to recognize that it is a very petty thought and, also, lacking in reason. Explain the encoder:

It is not to be understood by this emigration of Spirits that all those laggards will be expelled from Earth and relegated to inferior worlds. On the contrary, many will return, because they had yielded to the influence of circumstances and bad example. In them, the appearance was worse than the essence. Once freed from the influence of matter and the prejudices of the corporeal world, most of these spirits will see things in a completely different way from how they saw them in life, which is in agreement with numerous examples. In this case, they are helped by benevolent spirits, who are interested in them and hurry to enlighten them and show them the wrong path they had followed.. By our prayers and exhortations, we ourselves can contribute to their improvement because there is a perpetual solidarity between the dead and the living.

Let's look at those who displease us, because we think we are superior. We recognize that, in many, there really are bad habits and imperfections that cause general discomfort. However, let's take a closer look at them: what's wrong with them? Often nothing. They are Spirits that, in the observed material life, forgetful of the greater purposes of evolution, are only absorbed in their worries or passing joys, as we have been so many times. They are not disgusting creatures, but only Spirits who, in the present life, could not learn and develop like others, but who, even so, have the sympathy of good Spirits and should also have ours, so that, leaving our selfishness , we can extend the friendly word to them, if possible knowledge and, at least, good thought, through prayer. Can you imagine the joy of seeing, tomorrow, reincarnating with us, the one who used to cause restlessness, now more concerned with the good and its need for progress?

The regeneration of humanity does not absolutely need the integral renewal of the Spirits, since a modification in their moral dispositions is enough. This modification takes place among all those who are predisposed, whenever they are withdrawn from the pernicious influence of the world. Therefore, those who return are not always other Spirits, but often the same Spirits, thinking and feeling differently.

The cataclysms, the mass deaths, far from serving to fulfill a “collective karma” (sic ((This is complete nonsense, an idea that was never in the Spiritist Doctrine and, moreover, something irrational, as we have already discussed in this article), comply with the laws of Nature. Yet they accelerate social change:

When this improvement is isolated and individual, it goes unnoticed and has no overt influence on the world. Another effect occurs when improvement takes place simultaneously on large masses, for then, according to the proportions in a generation, the ideas of a people or a race can be profoundly modified.

This is what is almost always noticed after the great calamities decimate the populations. Destroying scourges only destroy bodies, but do not affect the Spirit. They activate the movement of entry and exit between the corporeal and the spiritual world and, consequently, the progressive movement of incarnate and disincarnate Spirits. It is worth noting that, at all times in history, great social crises have been followed by eras of progress.

Conclusion

It is very clear, therefore, that social changes will not take place by the order of imposition, nor politics, nor that of weapons, nor that of human laws, and even less, by the action of the “finger of God”, who in no way interferes with our progress.

No: social advancement will be a consequence of moral advancement, and this will only happen by retaking, precisely, the forgotten morality, and will be boosted if it is combined with the practical knowledge brought by Spiritism, capable of causing a revolution of ideas at the individual level. and then to society. Is obvious, from the above, that this revolution of ideas is linked to the moral transformation of the individual, and not to the use of this or that political bias — it bears repeating.

Don't let yourself fall into that snare either. In your meetings, carefully put away everything when it comes 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.

Look for in Spiritism what can improve you. Here's the essentials. When men are better, really useful social reforms will follow naturally. By working for moral progress, you will lay the truest and most solid foundations of all improvements.

Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1862 > February > Response to the New Year's Message from the Lionesses Spiritists

In other words, it's no use taking the stage or going to the streets with posters asking for change, when we ourselves are not doing our part. Change modifies by example, it is contagious, because everyone wants to be happy (that's why, mixing joys with happiness, the Instagram profiles of rich and “well-to-do” people gain so many followers).

Let us, therefore, take care of improving ourselves, for the moral consequence that all the study of Spiritism has. Let us also take care to do our part: to study this Doctrine, with dedication, in order to understand it well, spreading its real face of consoling science, far from dogmas and ideas that materialize and imprison the Spirit in the false concepts of sin, punishment, etc. Let us strive to recover the knowledge of the great spiritualist philosophers, but also the forgotten knowledge of Magnetism. Let us strive to bring these concepts to society as well, starting with making an effort to make, from early childhood education, something better, more autonomous and cooperative, fraternal, away from the ideas of punishment, rewards and "ways", based, in short, , in the education of great humanist thinkers, such as Rousseau and Pestalozzi, who excelled in reason and humility in the pursuit of answers, through the scientific method… And, then, we will be tracing a new path for social change.

Cover photo: INTERNATIONAL SPIRITIST COUNCIL (CEI) – https://cei-spiritistcouncil.com/obras-de-allan-kardec-para-download/

In many minds, the old image of God remains, linked to the concepts of a humanity that could not understand what was outside of matter and human figures. So they created a God in their image: a bearded man, sitting on a throne above the clouds, looking – and judging – to everything and everyone.

However, the human mentality is no longer like that. In more than two thousand years, it has developed in reason and science, and it no longer accepts, so easily, the old dogmas of human religions. In fact, in terms of science, since we know that the sky is not a vault and that the infinite Universe extends to all sides, we can no longer assume this image of God. Furthermore, reason shows that God does not deal with us directly, controlling our lives. Far from it, it is demonstrated, by the study of Spiritism, that God acts through his Laws, which are the Natural Laws, which govern everything with perfection.

However, a doubt arises: is God everywhere, as they say? Does God hear us? Is that proverb that says “not a leaf falls without God’s will” correct?

As always, the study of Spiritism clarifies the horizon for irrefutable reason. We are going to demonstrate the beauty of Kardec's conclusions, in A Genesis, but remember that it is important to base yourself on the new edition, by FEAL, which is a translation based on the fourth edition of this work, since the fifth edition – the one that provided the basis for all other editions and translations – was tampered with.

This is how Allan Kardec expresses himself in the cited work:

20. Providence is God's solicitude for all creatures. God is everywhere, He sees everything and presides over everything, even the little things; and that is what his providential action consists of. “How can God, so great, so powerful, so superior to everything, meddle in minute details, worry about the smallest acts and thoughts of each individual? This is the question that unbelief asks itself, from which it concludes that, admitting the existence of God, his action must only be done on the general laws of the Universe; that it works for all eternity, in virtue of these laws, to which each creature is submitted in its sphere of activity, without the need for the incessant assistance of providence.

21. In their present state of inferiority, men hardly understand an infinite God, because, being themselves restricted and limited, they only understand him restricted and limited as they do. They represent him as a circumscribed being and make him an image similar to themselves. The pictures that paint him with human traits only help to keep this error in the minds of peoples, who adore form in him more than thought. For many people, he is a mighty ruler, seated on an inaccessible throne, lost in the immensity of the heavens; and because their faculties and perceptions are limited, they do not understand that God can or deign to intervene directly in small things.

22. Faced with the impossibility of understanding the essence of divinity, man can only make an approximate idea of it through comparisons, necessarily very imperfect, but which can at least show him the possibility of what, at first, it seems impossible.

Suppose a fluid subtle enough to penetrate all bodies. It is evident that each molecule of this fluid, meeting with each molecule of matter, will produce on bodies an action identical to that which would produce the totality of the fluid. This is what chemistry demonstrates every day, in limited proportions.

This fluid, not being intelligent, acts mechanically, only through material forces; but if we suppose him endowed with intelligence, with perceptive and sensitive faculties, he will no longer act blindly, but with discernment, with will and freedom; he will see, understand and feel.

[…]

23. No matter how high they are, Spirits are creatures limited in their faculties, in their power and in the extension of their perceptions, and they would not know, in this aspect, how to approach God. But we can use them as a point of comparison. What the Spirit cannot perform, except within a restricted limit, God, who is infinite, performs in infinite proportions. There is still the difference that the action of the Spirit is momentarily subordinated to circumstances, and that of God is permanent; the thought of the Spirit encompasses a limited space for a time, that of God embraces the Universe and eternity. In a word, between the Spirits and God there is a distance from the finite to the infinite.

24. The perispiritual fluid is not the thought of the Spirit, but the agent and intermediary of this thought; as it is he who transmits it, somehow impregnated with it. Due to our impossibility of isolating thought, it seems to us that it and the fluid are confused, as is the case with sound and air, so that we can, so to speak, materialize it. In the same way that we say that the air becomes sonorous, taking the effect for the cause, we can say that the fluid becomes intelligent.

25. Whether or not this is the case with regard to God's thought, that is, whether he acts directly or through a fluid, for our reasoning, we are going to represent him in the concrete form of an intelligent fluid, filling the infinite Universe, penetrating all parts of creation: all of nature is immersed in the divine fluid. Now, in virtue of the principle that the parts of a whole are of the same nature and have the same properties as the whole, each atom of this fluid, if we may so express it, would possess thought, that is, the essential attributes of divinity, and this fluid being everywhere, everything is subject to his intelligent action, to his foresight, to his solicitude. There will not be a being, however tiny, that is not somehow immersed in it. We are, therefore, constantly in the presence of the divinity and we cannot remove a single one from our actions, from his gaze; our thought is in unceasing contact with his thought, and it is rightly said that God reads into the deepest bowels of our hearts; we are in him, as he is in us, according to the word of Christ.

In order to extend his solicitude over all creatures, God has no need to cast his gaze from the heights of immensity. In order for him to hear our prayers, he does not need to cross space, nor for them to be said with a resounding voice, because God being incessantly by our side, our thoughts reverberate in him; they are like the sounds of a bell that make all the molecules in the ambient air vibrate.

26. Far be it from us to think of materializing divinity. The image of a universal intelligent fluid is, of course, only a comparison capable of giving a fairer idea of God than the paintings that represent him under a human figure. This comparison only aims at understanding the possibility of God being everywhere and taking care of everything.

We see, therefore, that the Universal Cosmic Fluid, which originates all matter, in any possible state, permeates everything. It is this fluid, as Spiritism demonstrates, that guides thought everywhere. That's why it's easy to understand that God is in everything and that it is not necessary to kneel, look up and formulate certain words: he hears and knows our most intimate thoughts and needs.

In fact, it is this same fluid that leads our thought through infinite space and arrives at the thought of a Spirit in which we think:

The spiritual fluids that constitute one of the states of the universal cosmic fluid are the atmosphere of spiritual beings. It is the element from which they extract the materials on which they act; the medium where special phenomena take place, perceptible to the sight and hearing of the Spirit and which escape the carnal senses impressed only by tangible matter. It is, in short, the vehicle of thought, as air is the vehicle of sound.

ibidem

It is for this reason that Spirits – good or bad – come, almost always promptly, to our mental call. And it is as a result of this principle that we need to recognize that Never we are devoid of company, since this company does not need to be “physical”, like a Spirit that stays with us all the time. A good Spirit, including a protective Spirit or guardian angel, does not need to be “planted” at our side: it is enough for his or her thoughts to be projected onto us and, in the same way, that our thoughts are projected onto his.

It is through the same action of fluids that we are able to assimilate good or bad intuitions and influences, even if unconsciously. If we're trying hard live in good (and not just do the good, which is very different) our thoughts shape the vibration of the fluids around us, making us more accessible to good Spirits. The same happens, in the opposite direction, when we are disconnected from the good, that is, immersed in passions and bad habits. That is why, in this state, it is said, in the works of Spiritism, that good Spirits move away from us. It is not that they turn their backs on us and our needs, because even the spirit most attached to evil will still have the sympathy of superior spirits, but it is that, in this mental state, we thicken our perispirit and the fluids around us. , making us inaccessible to good fluids, that is, to the good thoughts of superior spirits.

We ask, then: how to get out of the last state? Now, relatively simple: through the effort constant and dedicated to improving one's thoughts and actions, which can be greatly helped by the action of prayer, which is (should be) an honest action of seeking, through thought, to modify one's mental dispositions in order to ask for help, which it has already been shown that it is not difficult, since God is around us and in us. It is enough to wish for the change itself, honestly, recognizing the situation of shortage, caused by the misuse of the faculties of the intelligence, and the good Spirits will come to our aid, to give Support to our action, but never to do the work that must be done for us. And how will they act? Influencing us, and the people around us, to lead us to the opportunities, and also to the tests, necessary for our change.

The fact that it is the Spirits who come to help us, and not God himself in person, does not diminish Him at all, since it is through His Creation and His Laws that everything works. It is in this sense that we can explain that proverb quoted above: “not a leaf falls without God willing”, which means that even a leaf that falls from a tree is responding to a Law of Nature, Creation of God, and not that God take His attention to say "this leaf will fall now, but that one will not." It is logical to understand that God You know of everything, because if he didn't know, he wouldn't be God, but, in the same way, it's logical to understand that he doesn't need to interfere in anything, because his creation is perfect.

Arrived at this point, we cannot fail to highlight the total inconsistency preached by human religions, for all times, which aim, for the purposes of controlling their faithful, “stealing” God for himself, claiming that God is only within the Church, or that God benefits more those who follow that religion, giving them prizes and titles to possessions, material wealth, etc.

To Kardec, a spirit said that “God would not allow” an inferior spirit to materialize in a horrendous way, to scare. We had found that it is clear that there was a law that we do not yet know about. So, in one of the last studies of Revista Espírita, another Spirit suggested that materializations and physical phenomena, caused by inferior Spirits, always take place by the “command” of superior Spirits, with a purpose. This is why, as we understand it, a lower spirit could not materialize in a horrendous way: because a higher spirit would not help him to do so.

Divine creation is, we understand, autonomous. God, intervening, would practice heteronomy. So if he could intervene in certain aspects, why not in all? Why wouldn't he himself intervene, for example, to extinguish a war or violence, or, rather, to even let it start? We fall, then, into the questions that those who are guided by the heteronomous principles of religions fall into, often causing, in them, a complete abandonment of spirituality.

Rationally, we understand that God made his laws, and they are the ones that act in the Universe. His very creation, which appears to us imperfect when we look at it from a very petty aspect of our lower views, is actually perfect on the whole, and regulates itself in the path of evolution.

All this explained in this way, it is rationally easy to understand that there is no destiny predetermined by God in our lives, and that we act according to our free will, always, as long as we conquer our conscience. But that is a subject for another article.

We close with this beautiful reflection, given by São Luís and Santo Agostinho, about the doctrine of guardian angels, in The Spirits' Book:

495. Could it be that the protective Spirit abandons its protégé, for showing itself to be this rebel to the councils?

“He walks away when he sees that his advice is useless and that stronger is, in his protege, the decision to submit to the influence of inferior spirits. But he does not abandon it completely and always makes himself heard. It is then the man who covers his ears. The protector comes back as soon as he calls him.

“It is a doctrine, this, of the guardian angels, which, by its charm and sweetness, should convert the most incredulous. It does not seem very consoling to you to have beings who are superior to you, always ready to advise and support you, to help you in the ascent of the abrupt mountain of goodness; more sincere and devoted friends than all those who are most intimately connected to you on Earth? They are on your side by order of God. It was God who placed them there and, remaining there for the love of God, they carry out a beautiful but painful mission. Yes, wherever you are, they will be with you. Neither in prisons, nor in hospitals, nor in places of debauchery, nor in solitude, are you separated from those friends whom you cannot see, but whose gentle influence your soul feels, at the same time that it listens to their thoughtful advice.

“Oh! if only you knew this truth well! How much it would help you in times of crisis! How much would it deliver you from evil spirits! But oh! How many times, on the solemn day, will this angel be constrained to observe you: “Did I not advise you this? However, you didn't. Did I not show you the abyss? Yet thou hast plunged into it! Have I not made the voice of truth echo in your conscience? You preferred, however, to follow the advice of the lie!” Oh! Interrogate your guardian angels; establish between them and yourselves that tender intimacy that reigns between the best of friends. Do not think of hiding anything from them, for they have the gaze of God and you cannot deceive them. Think of the future; seek to advance yourselves in the present life. By doing so, you will shorten your trials and make your lives happier. Come on, men, courage! Once and for all, cast away all prejudices and hidden thoughts. Enter the new path that opens to you before the steps. walk! You have guides, follow them, that you will not fail to reach the goal, because that goal is God himself.

“To those who consider it impossible for truly elevated spirits to consecrate themselves to such a laborious task at all times, we will say that we influence your souls, although many millions of leagues are distant from you. Space, for us, is nothing, and despite living in another world, our spirits maintain their connections with yours. We enjoy qualities that you cannot understand, but rest assured that God has not imposed a task that is greater than our strength and that He has not left you alone on Earth, without friends and without support. Each guardian angel has his protégé, for whom he watches, as a father does for his son. He rejoices when he sees him on the right path; suffers when he despises her advice.

“Do not be afraid to bore us with your questions. On the contrary, try to be always in relationship with us. You will be stronger and happier this way. It is these communications from each one with their familiar Spirit that make all men mediums, mediums ignored today, but that will manifest later and spread like an ocean without shores, taking in unbelief and ignorance. Learned men, instruct your fellow men; men of talent, educate your brothers. You cannot imagine what work you do in this way: that of Christ, which God imposes on you. Why has God given you intelligence and knowledge, if not to share them with your brethren, but to make them go forward on the path that leads to blessedness, to eternal happiness?”
Saint Louis, Saint Augustine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. However, evil exists and has a cause.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spirits act on spiritual fluids, not manipulating them as men manipulate gases, but with the help of thought and will, which are for the Spirit what the hand is for man.

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

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

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

Do spirits act on the phenomena of Nature?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proceed to question 538:

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

“Which were or will be.”

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

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

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

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

“They gather in innumerable masses.”

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

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

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

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

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

And here we come to an important point: the simplest living beings, from the cell, the virus and the bacterium, also have a spiritual principle. This would explain, therefore, the Spirits gathered in “innumerable masses”, governed by Nature, which create the harmony that our “small spirit cannot yet grasp as a whole”.

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

Can a Spirit act directly on matter?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

conclusions

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

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

No, Spirit never retrogrades. It always goes forward, sometimes it stops, but it never goes back. If it returns to appearance, as in the case where it no longer fits into the moral evolution of a population and will incarnate in another, more backward civilization, it is because it has not yet advanced morally, in fact.

God creates us simple and ignorant. During the first steps of our evolution, we have no conscience, but only instinct, which is from the Law of God and, therefore, is good by definition. The lion that kills the zebra does not do evil, but good, for he is responding to instinct.

Further on, when we enter the realm of consciousness, we conquer free will, that is, the ability to choose. With it, we start to TRY and, from the attempt, mistakes and successes are born. The one who errs trying, is not doing evil, but good, because he is following the laws of God. Evil consists only when the individual starts to err by will, thus cultivating imperfections. When creating an imperfection, the Spirit will suffer on account of it, for more or less time, until it realizes the harm it does to itself, repents and honestly wants to overcome this imperfection, through atonement.

That is why, in Kardec's works, more than once the Spirits used the expression "will be doubly punished": it does not mean that God will punish him more or less - because God does not punish - but that, after acquiring an imperfection , the Spirit will spend a lot of time trying to get rid of it.

A good medium must always be ready to criticize his work, since it does not belong to him, never being hurt or humiliated when any idea comes from an imperfect spirit and cannot be accepted as doctrinal.

This criticism and judgment, when dealing with a good medium, should not and need not be extended to the medium itself. However, if in the mediumistic group there is the invigilant individual, almost always moved by habits of vanity and pride, which often promote frames of obsession and fascination, he must be advised privately, firmly, but with benevolence. If reason speaks louder to you, you will understand and seek to change your picture; if not, it will often turn away. 🇧🇷In this case, whatever faculties it possesses, its removal is not to be missed.”, Kardec would say [RE, July 1858]

The role of the medium is to transmit the content, including those of inferior spirits, and the role of a good spiritist should be to judge, based on study and reason, mediumistic communications and even learn from those that come from inferior spirits, not for accepting them blindly, but for understanding the ideas, the difficulties, the illusions, the reflections on the previous life, etc. And that, dear reader, also applies to dear Chico Xavier, Divaldo, Sueli Caldas and all mediums, as none have the divine grace to be "armored” against imperfect spirits — quite the contrary, as I believe is clear from the very purpose of mediumship.

An absurd distortion was created, not only in the Spiritist Movement, but also in the entire spiritualist movement, with mediumistic works, since this principle was forgotten and Mediums began to be treated as infallible oracles. It is important to remember that this idea was precisely the one inculcated by Roustaing, the greatest enemy of Spiritism and that, unfortunately, permeated and dominated the Spiritist Movement since its arrival in Brazilian lands, before 1900, having found wide support for dissemination in the FEB, self-titled organ maximum representation of Spiritism in Brazil (contrary to what Kardec himself recommended and planned to start, if he had not died so soon, as presented in Transitory Constitution of Spiritism — RE — December 1869).

Mr. Roustaing, one of the "Judas of Spiritism", was not a medium. But by a good medium, Mrs. Emilie Collignon, who even communicated with Kardec, began to obtain communications attributed to the four evangelists, who came to say that Roustaing would be the new prophet, producing what became known as The Four Gospels, which until today negatively influence, with various concepts, the Spiritist Movement in Brazil, mainly.

All that I am pointing out was exactly what Kardec pointed out to Roustaing. The medium herself even stated, to Kardec, that she did not agree with those communications, but whenever she was with Roustaing, they were obtained. After Kardec drew Roustaing's attention to the obsession of which he was a victim, trying to do him some good, he rebelled, out of vanity and pride... And then the damage was done.

After the death of Prof. Rivail (Kardec), a rich (quite rich) follower of Roustaing, Jean Guérin, approached Leymarie, the “continuer” of Spiritism who, for less elevated interests, sold himself and, among so many crimes against Spiritism, started to publish , in the Spiritist Magazine, contents from this ideology, even though contrary to the Doctrine. This provoked revolt in the true followers of Kardec, among them Berthe Fropo, a close friend of the couple, Camille Flamarion, Leon Denis and Gabriel Delanne. Fropo even published:

I appeal to all spiritists, my brothers. Can this man [Leymarie] remain in the direction of spiritualism? since he is no longer a spiritist? He, who has no belief, who has only interests, who has renounced the doctrine he was supposed to defend and protect, has debased it in himself by preferring another. Now he wants to make the doctrine enter the theological phase, to establish it as a religion, and to make our beautiful philosophy be lowered through congresses, ceremonies and, later, by dogmas, and all this for the love of money, to please the ideas. of Mr. Guérin, the millionaire. He became a Roustangist, advocated subversive ideas about the nature of Jesus and, currently, puts to study even the non-existence of Christ.

In the name of our revered master, we cannot leave our doctrine of life in the hands of a man without belief, without conviction, and who has disowned it. I beg all spiritists who have shares in the Anonymous Society founded by Mrs. Allan Kardec to meet in a general meeting; they have the right as shareholders. If they are sincere spiritists, honorable people, great hearts who desire the happiness of all our humanity through the propagation of the doctrine in all its purity, they must consider that it is a right and above all a duty for them, and that if they do not fulfill it , whether out of fear or inertia, that would be a cowardly abandonment of our dear philosophy, which, you are persuaded, is in danger, and in great danger. How is it possible to respect spiritism when one sees, in order to represent and advance it, people without morality, without belief and without loyalty?

Allan Kardec's Magazine is nothing more than an abominable rhapsody; under the pretext of eclecticism, the most subversive ideas are inserted into it, and the judgment of those brothers of ours is perverted who, as they do not have sufficient education to do justice to all these ridiculous conceptions, are confused and become of a credulity that can be dangerous to your home.

Let us study the teaching of our dear master Allan Kardec, let us accept what this high intelligence has made up for thirty years of tenacious work, and above all let us know how to understand and apply it to ourselves in order to become better, fair, loyal and fraternal, dedicated to consoling doctrine that the Spirits revealed to us.

Jesus, who so well taught us love, charity and fraternity, however, in a moment of indignation, expelled the sellers from the temple, and the thongs he used are not yet worn out. I used those of our time; God and the good spirits will judge me.

I consider that I have fulfilled the mission with which I was entrusted. It is up to the Spiritist shareholders to act now and save Villa Ségur, which, according to the master's idea, was destined to be a shelter for elderly Spiritists; he wanted to build there, moreover, a building large enough to establish a meeting place, a museum and a spiritualist library.

Fropo, Beacoup de Lumiere

Kardec, for defending the basic and necessary principles of Spiritist science, was also called orthodox, proud, pedantic, vain, etc. Precisely he, who always demonstrated that he did not even begin the studies of Spiritism and that, having only dedicated himself to this study in a methodological, scientific and organized way, being often contradicted, in his ideas, by the force of reason, by the Spirits themselves, He always emphasized that everything belonged to the Spirits and not to anyone's private ideas, much less his own.

These are the facts that many find it difficult to accept, but which are already well known and which are reported in Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato, and End, by Wilson Garcia.

References

• Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato
• End, by Wilson Garcia
• Beacoup de Lumiere by Berthe Fropo
• Spiritist Magazine of 1858

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.

Like all teaching, it is progressive. As humanity evolves its understanding changes. This article on Plato and Socrates is about that.

Remember the teachings of Last week's Sao Vicente de Paul? So, Saint Vincent de Paul spoke of the Gospel, that we should study it. Now, RE shows us something before Jesus, from the 5th and 4th century BC, from Plato and your mentor Socrates (remembering that it was Plato who wrote).

In the Spiritist Society, they had never imagined before:

“Today we will not discuss this theory, which was so far from our thinking when the Spirits revealed it to us, which surprised us strangely, because — we humbly confess — what Plato had written on this special subject was then completely unknown to us, new evidence, among others. so many others, that the communications given to us absolutely do not reflect our personal opinion. As for Plato's, we have only established the main idea, it being easy for each one to decide the form in which it is presented and to judge the points of contact that, in certain details, it may have with our current theory.

Kardec, Allan. Spiritist Magazine: first year: September/1858

The teachings of Socrates and Plato really carry the precepts of Jesus and are similar to those of the communicating spirits of Kardec's century.

In this article, RE presents as main ideas coming from Plato: the immortality of the soul, the succession of existences, the choice of existences as a result of free will, in short, the happy and unhappy consequences. Of course, Socrates, described by Plato, used parables to explain, because that was how they understood the lessons at that time. 

In his allegory of the Spindle of Necessity, Plato imagines a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, attributing to the former the speech of the RE, about the revelations of the Armenian Er, a fictional character, in all probability, although some take him for Zoroaster. worth reading.

Kardec presents the essence of an allegory by Plato, where a man would have had an NDE and came back telling “the other side”. It is very figurative, and it shows the idea of the Trial Choices before we reincarnate.

In these teachings, when Plato quotes the Daughters of Necessity, he is talking about divine laws. See what he says:

Passenger souls, you will start a new career and be reborn (reincarnate) in the mortal condition. Genius will not be pointed out to you; you will choose it yourself. You will choose the one that luck calls first, and that choice will be irrevocable. Virtue belongs to no one: it allies itself to those who dignify it and abandons those who despise it. Each one is responsible for the choice he makes, God is innocent.'

Kardec, RE September/1858

Then he goes on to describe how the rebirth takes place, which is very similar to what the Spirits in Kardec's times explain.

Therefore, each one is responsible for the choice! God is innocent in his free will!

In OLE, these issues are addressed in depth, as in  Part Two — On the Spiritist World or World of Spirits, Chapter VI — On the Spiritist Life, Choice of Evidence, as well as the questions 337 and 975. 

This RE article is Kardec's seed for the elaboration of the Gospel According to Spiritism (April 1864). in your introduction exposes the relationship with the ideas of Christianity and soon after the morals of Socrates and Plato.

Note: we also indicate this great video about the Morals of Socrates and Plato of the channel Spiritism for All

At the time of writing this article, we are entering the study of the 10th edition of Revista Espírita — October 1858. We started this weekly study (Click here to get to know it), broadcasting it live, knowing, by an intuition, that it would be very important and useful, but, in fact, we didn't know what to expect from this study. The truth is that, if not for reading some quotes from excerpts from this work, we didn't even know what the Spiritist Magazine was about.

Listen to the podcast:

Today, then, after nine editions of this publication, among the 136 of which Kardec himself was at the forefront, from January 1858 to April 1869 (he died in March, but he had already finished this last and important edition, which we will talk about later) — and we keep asking ourselves where he found the time and disposition for this, something worthy of a missionary — we have already managed to glimpse a little of Rivail's brilliance in the logical sequence of the development of the themes that, now we understand a little, give basis and towards the growth and strengthening of the Spiritist Doctrine — let us remember that the next works were produced, in large part, precisely from many of the themes and studies developed in the Spiritist Magazine.

It is important to say, first of all, that the Revista Espírita, as the name demonstrates, was a monthly periodical, where Allan Kardec presented several themes, some of them totally doctrinaire, others related to social, historical and scientific issues and others in which we realized a growing and uninterrupted elaboration of researches and knowledge that were giving more and more basis to the Spiritist Doctrine.

Spiritist Magazine: Journal of Psychological Studies

Many do not know, but this is the full subtitle of this journal: study journal psychological. And this is important to be highlighted, because, by today's eyes, it doesn't seem that psychology has much to do with a spiritist journal, does it? This is where the valuable and important work of Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo comes in, one of the most prominent spiritist researchers of our time, who sought, in the past, for a forgotten knowledge, swept under the rug: in short, the one that was closed in the context of Rational Spiritualism, about which we have already spoken a little on here. It is only through the study of this forgotten knowledge that we can, we say, contextualize much of what is said in RE and, in this regard, we highlight the importance of the work Autonomy: the untold story of Spiritism, by the same author.

In Kardec's context, Psychology did not have the materialistic therapeutic characteristic of today: it was a moral science, spiritualist, inserted in the context of Rational Spiritualism, and its main objective was to investigate and analyze the natural laws that govern human nature, including experimentally.

In this context, Psychology understood the human being as a being constituted of body and soul. The soul, which would survive the body, was the primary cause of the psyche, which was not just a material effect of chemistry and stimuli. We deal with this a little in the studies based on the article “The Psychological Period”, which you can read on here.

The birth of the Journal and its purpose

Kardec created the Spiritist Magazine based, in part, on the suggestions of a Spirit who communicated through Ms. Hermance Dufaux (it's with H, really) who, according to Canuto de Abreu, cooperated in transmitting valuable guidelines for this journal:

At the end of 1857, Kardec had the idea of publishing a spiritist journal and wanted to hear the opinion of the spiritual guides. Hermance was the chosen medium and, through her, a Spirit gave the Master of Lion many excellent directions. The organ was named “Revista Espírita” and was launched in January of the following year.

One of Kardec's greatest interests was to correspond, in an easy way, with the followers of Spiritism spread across Europe. Through the Magazine, a publication of easy circulation and of general interest — Kardec, in it, even addressed everyday facts and of great interest, involving the Spirits — the Doctrine quickly permeated the masses, who eagerly read its pages. There was no shortage of letters subscribers, thousands of them, many of which Kardec didn't even find time to answer.

We emphasize the word “subscribers” on purpose: Kardec, or rather the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, charged for a subscription to this journal, but never for self-enrichment, but with the aim of obtaining resources to reduce the costs of the works, provide social support, etc. We quote about this in the article Propagation of Spiritism.

We were talking about the purposes of the Magazine. We know very well that Kardec identified, right from the start, with his perspicacity as a researcher trained, since childhood, by the investigative method of Nature, by Pestalozzi, that…

… The isolated opinion of a spirit is just that — an opinion — therefore, it cannot be taken, in isolation, as if it were an unquestionable source of truth, since spirits of all types can communicate, and deceiving spirits take the names even of the saints and of Jesus, without shame, especially when they realize that they are not questioned.

Therefore, Kardec sought a way to strengthen the basic and inexorable principle of the Doctrine, which is that of universal agreement of the teaching of the Spirits, which must, in addition, comply with logic, reason, common sense and already formed science, both on the part of men and on the part of Spirits, by the same method. Now, as we can already see, through the Spiritist Magazine, where he received the various reports from various parts of the world, through his correspondents, the Lyonnais master obtained just that, in large part! We see an example of this in letter from Mr. Jobard, in July 1858, and in the observations of a correspondent in September 1858.

Kardec's Evocations

There is also an even more important aspect presented in the Magazine, which clearly demonstrates a very little known face of Spiritism in the current spiritist movement: that of the nature and usefulness of evocations of Spirits. Now, at a time when the famous phrase of dear Chico Xavier became law — “the telephone only rings from there to here” — about which we have already analyzed in the article “Spiritism without the Spirits” — which was our surprise (at least for those who did not know this reality) when we found that Kardec used evocations as naturally — but with the necessary seriousness — as the one we use to talk to people around us.

In practically all editions, Kardec presents evocations of Spirits, which he carried out in order to obtain better understandings about the morality understood in certain events, as well as to try to probe some scientific facts involving Spiritist phenomena, as happened in "A new photographic discovery", of July 1858.

This is how, number after number, Kardec presented the most diverse evocations, some made by himself and others made by his correspondents. Spirits of suicides, madmen, murderers, kings, commoners, people of great morals and benevolence and inferior spirits were evoked. Many of these, by the way, were very few days after their death, which contradicts what a large part of the current spiritist movement has said.

It is important to point out, of course, that the evocations were not intended to serve anyone's empty and inferior curiosity or fun: in addition to the teachings that could be gathered from all of them, for the superior spirits it was always a happiness to help us and, for the lower ones often provided precious moments of reflection and rebalancing.

Strengthening of the Doctrine and deconstruction of false or incomplete concepts

The form to the Spirit

To give a practical example, in these deconstructions of ideas that are widely rooted today, we have, even if in the beginning, one of them that began to draw our attention: the question of form for the wandering Spirit (between incarnations). It is customary, nowadays, the conception of a whole fantastic world and full even of automobiles in the spiritual plane… However, Kardec, from a certain edition, starts to probe what is form for spirits, through questions such as “how would we see him if we could see him with our eyes?” or “do you see other spirits? In what way?".

This is how, in July 1858, in the article “Berezina's Drum“, Kardec asks the following questions, after carrying out a series of inquiries trying to understand the moral and rational state of that Spirit, who was a soldier in his last incarnation:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let's see, then: there are already two spirits, of different elevations, saying the same thing: for the spirit freed from matter, there is no form, like the one we understand. They assume the perispirit, attending to a natural law, only when they need to act materially, when, for example, they approach us to communicate (with materially I mean: they need to assume the perispirit to be able to put themselves in communication with us, which, above all, happens through this “clothes”. It is, therefore, matter, but a very subtle matter, extracted from the universal cosmic fluid[1]).

Does this mean that Kardec's studies belie André Luiz? Well, despite the fact that Kardec's methodology is quite logical, leaving little room for error, it would perhaps be hasty to draw conclusions based only on these two Spirits — we still don't know if there are, further on, more evocations that support this thesis — but we also don't know. we are saying that Chico Xavier was wrong, since he was a tool of the Spirits, nor that André Luiz lied, but rather that he spoke according to his conceptions and understandings. Who knows, he could be talking about a situation of “incarnation” of Spirits, in a more subtle matter? Nor do we rule out the existence of true cities, formed by Spirits still very dependent on matter and form — which, in short, is not good at all, but we understand that it is a phase.

the suicide

Another topic that has been largely deconstructed from its modern conceptions is that of suicide. Today, in the spiritist milieu, there are assertions that the suicidal person is on the “threshold” or “the valley of suicides”; that he will be attached to the body, “feeling” it being gnawed by worms; that he will be years in extreme disturbance, being impossible to communicate; and, also, that the suicidal person will be born tomorrow with physical defects in order to “redeem a karmic debt” (this last passage causes an aversion even to write).

Well, so far, Kardec has already evoked two suicides: The Samaritan Suicide, in June 1858, and Suicide for Love — September 1858 — where a young man killed himself on his girlfriend's doorstep, at the height of his emotions, as she had stubbornly refused to take him back after a big argument.

The first is evoked about two months after the fateful episode: “I ask Almighty God to allow the spirit of the individual who committed suicide on April 7, 1858, in the baths of the Samaritan woman, to come and communicate with us” — note the simplicity in evocation. This Spirit denoted great moral suffering, which had been going on since before his death, which he sought out of despair in not knowing how to deal with the heartbreaks and trials of life. São Luís ends the communication saying only that suicide abruptly interrupts life, which can cause a certain momentary difficulty in letting go of the body.

The second is evoked seven or eight months after the suicide. This spirit no longer suffers so much, because it understood the lack of usefulness in what it did, and that it did it by a thoughtless act driven by unrestrained passions (emotions). In this one, there is only a “mental imprisonment” at the moment of the act, which kept repeating itself in the mind of this Spirit, since it was linked to it with repentance.

In none of them, there is no mention of what has become commonplace in the Spiritist environment, which, in fact, are half-truths: there are different possibilities, according to the mentality of each one, but the current Spiritist insists on taking the exception as a rule. .

Autonomous Morality

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo has spoken a lot and defended the essence of Spiritism as an autonomous morality. And much has been criticized by a few who have not yet been able to see this in the Doctrine. Here, there is one more current concept deconstructed by the study of Revista Espírita. I will not delve into the matter further, as in this article I have already introduced the concept. I just want to point out that, in the Magazine itself, we see this concept very well founded, and not just by Kardec, but by the Spirits.

In the first edition of RE, in January 1858, we have the article “a conversion", which presents the following sequence of questions and answers, made to the deceased father of a boy, by that same boy, who sought to believe in Spiritism:

15. — Will we be punished or rewarded according to our actions? — If you do wrong, you will suffer.

16. — Will I be rewarded if I do good? — It will advance on its way.

17. — Am I on the right track? “Do good and you will be.

Note the moral depth of this simple dialogue. There is no punishment and reward, but only ourselves, before our own conscience, according to our choices.

Later, in October 1858, in the article “Murder of five children by another twelve-year-old—Moral problem“, Kardec asks São Luís about the possibility of that Spirit, of the murderer, returning to incarnate on Earth, and not on an even more backward planet:

11. ─ So can he find on Earth the means to atone for his fault, without being forced to return to a lower world?

─ In the eyes of God, repentance is sacred, because it is man who judges himself, which is rare on your planet.

Dear friend, do you see the beauty of the Spiritist Doctrine, truly consoling and autonomous, shown in its original face? No karma. No “action and reaction”. No “law of return”. Let's study, let's study, because the current spiritist movement, flooded with narrow concepts and contrary to the Doctrine of Spirits, is far from its original essence and reality!

How to study the Spiritist Magazine

Very well: we have already presented the inestimable importance of this periodical by Kardec; we have also presented the depth it has and the logical and rational chaining of something that forms the body of a very well established Scientific Doctrine, which is Spiritism. It remains to be seen: how to study these 136 numbers of this publication?

We believe there are two main ways, on which, by the way, we are discussing and adapting, at the moment, in order to arrive at the best method. The first of them is the one that respects the chronological form, edition by edition; the second is the one that “crosses the line”, in a good way, in Kardec, and advances by subjects, in a more or less chronological way. I explain:

In the first modality, which is what we have done so far, we take the Revisa, edition by edition, and dedicate ourselves to studying it individually, in the first place, in order to extract the best understanding of each issue and subject, enriching the study. This is because there are, in it, accessory subjects, which do not present great gain in bringing to group study, as is the case of the phenomena presented by Kardec, in what we would call today “spiritist stories”. Not that they are not useful articles, as they greatly reinforce the understanding of the fact of spiritist phenomena, especially for those who still have doubts about them.

On the other hand, other subjects are so important and profound that they deserve special attention, sometimes seeking complements not only in Kardec, but also in complementary works by other researchers, contemporaneous or not with Kardec. Several times we have found it very useful to approach not only other works by Kardec that, if we were to base ourselves on the correct chronology, had not even been published, but also works such as those by Ernesto Bozzano and recent ones by Paulo Henrique.

Another way to carry out this study is, as we said, "outrun" Kardec and advance on the subjects in all the years of the Journal and the Professor's complete work. But this in a good way: Kardec, chronologically, which is obvious, is maturing his own understanding of the Doctrine of Spirits, through incessant research. Thus, we can see, for example, Kardec talking about vital fluid, in 1858, but, in A Genesis, discarding fluids and staying with Mesmer's thesis, Animal Magnetism and the vital principle. Therefore, one can disregard the chronological order in order to study the subjects covered in the Journal, complementing and remembering them as one advances through the numbers, in order.

At the moment, we are opting for a middle ground: we discard the deepening in the accessory subjects, focusing on the main subjects and, from them, doing the due deepening, as we see the need. Perhaps we will approach more than one edition in the same study, when we see that the subjects of more than one of them are built and complemented sequentially. We just don't think it's useful to go too far, because understanding the construction of Kardec's thought, his method, the teachings of the Spirits between the lines, is something that we consider very useful and important.

The end of the Spiritist Magazine under Kardec's tutelage

Finally, we come to the end of the article, citing the end of the Spiritist Magazine with the death of Allan Kardec. “But, Paulo, Revista Espírita continued to be published for many years after his death”. Yes, it continued… But, unfortunately, it was subverted by the petty interests of money and vanity. While it was under Kardec, it was a methodical, well-formulated publication and, above all, impersonal, focused on the interests of Spiritism, that is, of the Doctrine of Spirits, which does not belong to any incarnate and does not come out of the ideas of any of them, in isolation.

After Kardec's death, those who took over and subverted the Society (for more details read Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato) began to use this periodical to publish the most complete absurdities, among them, under the direction of Pierre Leymarie, articles promoting a false medium, who claimed to obtain photographs of the Spirits. The promotion was literal, because, in the Revista Espírita, it was even given the indication and the amounts charged to obtain a supposed photograph of a dead relative. The case resulted in a major lawsuit against Leymarie and her associates, in what became known as The Spiritist Process and which absurdly tarnished the Doctrine's reputation in society.

But it did not stop there. The Spiritist Magazine, after 1869, became a constant place for publishing absurd articles, many contrary to the Doctrine until then formed by the indispensable methodology applied by Kardec. That is why, together with the other damages caused to the Doctrine, that, today, we are with the Journal only for the time it was under the conscientious hands of Allan Kardec, and it is for all the above, so far, that…

… We invite everyone to set up study groups on this publication, adding to it the most current research, so that the learning of Spiritism, as a Scientific Doctrine that it is, can, every day, leave the circles of Spiritist scholars and spread its influences on society, which is desperate for answers once again.

For this, we recommend observing the recommended works for study, as well as accompanying the studies of the group Spiritism for All, in the YouTube.

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1. Says Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, in Genesis (FEAL, 2018):

“There was the theory of the universal cosmic fluid, initially adopted by Franz Anton Mesmer (in the Science of Animal Magnetism), according to which the Universe would be composed of a single generating element, fully occupying space, divided into innumerable phases of density, progressively, from tangible, liquid, gaseous matter, the ether and other even more subtle conditions, imperceptible to the senses. In this other theory, the forces would not be substances, but states of vibration at various subtle levels of the universal fluid. For example, light would be a state of ether vibration. By analogy, considering the adoption in this work of the theory of the single generative element as a universal explanation of physical phenomena, spiritual fluids would be among the most subtle states of the universal cosmic fluid”. We recommend the work Mesmer: the denied science of animal magnetism, by the same author.

This is a recurring subject. It doesn't take much effort to find such a statement: a reluctant Spirit, that is, one who resists moving forward, could be “forced” into a compulsory reincarnation, understanding, in this concept, that superior Spirits would force him to face trials and expiations.” for your own good".

Well, my brothers, “calm down”! We need to be very careful with the statements we make out there, often based on concepts that have a basis of truth, but that become generically applied as “law” — and here we have already addressed several of these cases.

Firstly, we need to recover what we learned from the study of Spiritism — that science that many resist in studying and who formed, through Kardec's studies, the Spiritist Doctrine or Spiritism: firstly, Spiritism is based on the doctrine of the choice of evidence, that is, it states that, as long as we have the capacity, us ever we choose our trials and our atonements. It doesn't hurt to remember: test it is an opportunity to face a situation, to learn from that situation and overcome an imperfection; already the atonement it happens when the Spirit imposes any kind of suffering in order to face, in his own skin, an evil that he has imposed on others.

We said: “it imposes itself”, because no one, not any Spirit, not even God, imposes punishments on anyone. When, in Kardec's context, we say “God willed”, “God allowed”, “God punished”, it means that all of this occurs as an effect of Creation. Now, as we are his creatures, intelligent beings capable of free will, when we impose any ordeal on ourselves it means that, indirectly, God allows it, just as he allows evil – or, rather, the absence of good – to exist.

Well, we introduced the concept of proofs and atonements, which aim to bring a learning to the Spirit. However, we know that we only learn something when we really understand that we made a mistake, which brings us guilt, remorse and the desire to make amends – which may or may not happen with the victims of our mistakes. We also recall that the choice of proofs and atonements is a primordial principle, as taught by the Spirits. In fact, this is clearly exposed in The Spirits' Book:

258. When in erraticity, before starting a new corporeal existence, does the Spirit have awareness and foresight of what will happen to him in the course of his earthly life?

“He himself chooses the kind of tests he has to go through, and that is his free will.”

The) - Is it not God, then, who imposes on him the tribulations of life, as a punishment?

“Nothing happens without God's permission, because it was God who established all the laws that govern the universe. Go now and ask why he decreed this law and not that one! Giving the Spirit the freedom to choose, God leaves him fully responsible for his actions and the consequences they have. Nothing stands in the way of your future; open if thus the way of good is found, as well as the way of evil. If he succumbs, he will be left with the consolation that not everything is over, and that divine goodness grants him the freedom to start over what was wrongly done. Furthermore, it is necessary to distinguish what is the work of God's will from that of man. If a danger threatens you, it was not you who created it, but God. But yours was your desire to expose yourselves to him, because you saw in it a way to progress, and God permitted it.”

So where is this “forced reincarnation”?

Let's see, in question 262, the following:

262. How can Spirit, who in its origins is simple, ignorant and lacking in experience, choose an existence with knowledge of the facts and be responsible for that choice?

“God supplies him with inexperience, laying out the path he must follow, as you do with a little child. Little by little, however, as his free will develops, he leaves the master to make the choice, and only then does it often happen to him to go astray, taking the wrong path, by disregarding the advice of the Spirits. Good. This is what can be called the fall of man.”

The) - When the Spirit enjoys free will, the choice of bodily existence will always depend exclusively on its will, or this existence can be imposed on it ((Compulsory reincarnation)), as atonement, by the will of God?

“God knows how to wait, he does not hasten atonement. However, it can impose a certain existence on a Spirit, when this, due to its inferiority or ill-will, is not able to understand what would be more beneficial to it, and when it sees that such existence will serve for the purification and progress of the Spirit, by while serving as an atonement for him.”

Now, does God then impose the atonement? It's not like that. What happens is that when the Spirit is in denial or resistance, he cannot see the good that would provide him with facing his imperfections through trials and atonements. It cannot, therefore, choose lucidly…. But it keeps reincarnating. Let's see, still in OLE:

167. What is the end aimed at with reincarnation?

“Atonement, progressive improvement of humanity. Without this, where is justice?”

We easily understand that the incarnation is a need for the advancement of the Spirit and that, when he is still simple and ignorant, which easily gives him the state of resistance, can easily resist facing their own imperfections. It is there, therefore, that the mechanics of the Divine Law make up for your inexperience: through a “forced” incarnation, that is, a “common” incarnation, but without choices of tests and expiations, the Spirit will face the school of material life, which will, in one way or another, confront its imperfections , according to the way in which choose act on the matter. So, you can choose – deep down, there is always the choice, from the moment the Spirit enters the age of consciousness – to continue giving in to the passions, a practice from which it will reap bitter results (and that is the involuntary atonement), until, one day, this moral suffering motivate you to say: “enough! I'm tired of acting like this! I'm tired of suffering for being imperfect! I need to get rid of these imperfections!” It is at this moment that this Spirit returns to choosing tests and expiations.

Finally, we remind you that the knowledge brought by Spiritism is of substantial importance to leverage the process of evolution of the Spirit, because, at the moment when, through science, that is, through reason, he understands that he has to have will firm to overcome its imperfections, it can advance in years what it did not advance in successive incarnations.