The history of Spiritism and the Spiritist Movement

Paulo Degering R Jr
Umbanda and Spiritism, no more fights
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Spiritism today, or rather what the Spiritist Movement knows and transmits about it, is very far from being reality, and this is very serious, as it is precisely because of these distortions that false ideas were created that repel individuals and create fights, not only internally, but also with spiritualist religions.

A very well-known case is that of Umbanda, which was created because an individual was prohibited from “receiving” a Spirit from an “old black man” in a spiritist center. Not only that: nowadays, people of any religion who have any interest in Spiritism are led to the question: “do I need to abandon my religion to be a Spiritist?”. This is because “being a Spiritist”, in modern times, means attending a Spiritist center which, according to false concepts, is where Spiritism “lives”.

I am here to demonstrate how wrong these conceptions are and that, far from a dispute of truths, it is possible to have union and that, in truth, this is how Spiritism developed.

Contents hide
1 The history of Spiritism like almost no one has known
2 Untruths
3 The materialist turn of the 19th century
4 Adulterations in Spiritism
5 The resumption
6 Reading Recommendations (Books)

The history of Spiritism like almost no one has known

It is logical to say that, before Spiritism became established as a doctrine, no one was a Spiritist. How was it possible, then, to form this science, with a philosophical aspect and moral consequences?

Anyone who says or thinks that it was Allan Kardec who created Spiritism is wrong. No: Spiritism is in nature, just like the other sciences. It would behoove someone to study, with scientific methodology and seriousness, the principles of this science, and that is what Kardec did. He never gave himself the right to take the truth for himself, simply because, as an honest scientist, he knew that science does not deal with truths, but with theories that come closest to the truth.

Thus, Kardec dedicated himself to studying the phenomena and communications of Spirits, using the main tool available: evocations, through mediums. And he didn't do it alone: at that time, study groups spread across France and other nearby countries and, in fact, preceded Kardec in evocations. When he became interested in Spiritism, there were already several evocations recorded on paper, which he gathered, analyzed and organized, which gave rise to the first edition of The Spirits' Book, about half the size of its second edition.

Kardec quickly realized that this initial effort in the Doctrine would require development, like all science. Thus, in 1858, the Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies, a monthly periodical where he presented to the public results of studies on evocations and spontaneous communications within the scope of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, as well as pertinent content sent by other groups. He also used the Magazine to reinforce the true face of Spiritism, often presenting counterpoints to opinions and articles full of ignorance and, at times, evil.

We talk about scientific methodology: well, Spiritism was born like all science: from a systematic and controlled observation of verifiable facts (although not under our will), from which hypotheses were created. From the hypotheses, a theory was created, which was then subjected to experiments (evocations). From the experiments, the results were verified and, from there, the hypotheses were evaluated: if they were corroborated, they were incorporated into the theory; if not, they were reevaluated and new observations were made.

Untruths

One of the biggest untruths that reign over the current Spiritist Movement is that evocations should not be carried out, which is in opposition to the historical characteristics of Spiritism. Anyone who studies the first year of Revista Espírita understands how indispensable for spiritist science, which, as it is a science, should not be taken as sacred content, which should remain untouched. On the contrary: Spiritism needs development, but this development can only be done through scientific methodology, which necessarily depends on the resumption of evocations. An example of a practice lacking method, or taken for false principles, is that it is enough to evoke one or more Spirits, in an isolated group, and ask (or listen) to them about everything, making this a doctrinal principle.

Another big untruth is the assumption that mediumship belongs to the Spiritist Doctrine. So much so, that we demonstrate that Spiritism was born through the joint effort of groups that could not be Spiritists, since the doctrine did not yet exist. At that time, people of various beliefs and religions practiced mediumship in their homes, in small groups, and reaped good or bad results from evocations depending on their efforts to reason about communications. Kardec mentions, in the Magazine, that the followers of Spiritism included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., carrying out evocations and studies and often sending them to the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, where, together with other collaborators, they were evaluated, analyzed and separated those that could represent an interest for the general public.

Here we have two more untruths of the modern Spiritist Movement: the one that says that mediumship can only be practiced in the spiritist center and the one that says that we should just wait for the free communication of the Spirits. From these, perhaps, is born the biggest mistake of modern spiritists and followers: the blind and unreasoned acceptance of everything the Spirits say.

Another untruth, which we cannot fail to mention, is the one that says that Spiritism is a religion. We have already demonstrated that it is a science and that it can only be taken as a religion in the philosophical sense of natural religion, approached in a metaphysical and moral way by Rational Spiritualism, which we will talk about in a moment. This is the reason for finding, in Kardec's time, followers among religions, who did not leave their religions, with their particularities, to practice Spiritism. Regarding this, stay with us until the end, as understanding is extremely important.

Unfortunately, the Spiritist Movement erased science and transformed Spiritism into a religion, which started to create false ideas and dogmas that, if they please some, please for a while, but cannot face reason in the most critical moments of life, creating, thus, disbelievers. They forgot that Spirits do not become wise by leaving the material body and that, among them, there are good and bad, wise and ignorant, etc., and that it is above all when it is simply made available, without dialogue, that anyone presents themselves .

There are countless false ideas, which feed the Spiritist Movement and followers in general, which have not gone through the necessary screening, which have not been investigated and questioned, even if they were opposed to what, with method, was transformed in principle by psychological observation in thousands of Spirits, of all “types”.

We invite the reader, if they have not already done so, to start studying the Revista Espírita from 1858 and 1859 (it runs until May 1869). This publication, which should be taken as a laboratory where one can follow the development of the Spiritist Doctrine, through the method highlighted above, and not as a final idea in each article, demonstrates what Spiritism actually is and how much our society is far from this reality.

Notice what we say untruths, and not “lies”, since most of those who spread them, speak from what they were taught. But where did these untruths come from?

The materialist turn of the 19th century

Spiritism was not born out of nowhere. The ground was very well prepared before that and, at the beginning of the 19th century, the movement known as Rational Spiritualism was born, which, based on metaphysics, sought to study the human psyche through its most elementary and inseparable aspect: the soul. Authors such as Maine de Biran, Victor Cousin and Paul Janet were its main exponents.

You probably don't know, but Rational Spiritualism defined French Moral Sciences in the middle of this century, forming part of French teaching and defining its structure. I will leave information in the description. But ER approached this study only through metaphysics, and not in a practical way. As Spiritism, which was its development, Experimental Psychology was born (and now you know the reason for the subtitle of the Spiritist Magazine). I will not go into many details, which can be found in the book “Autonomy: the never told story of Spiritism”, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo. The issue here is different.

At the end of the 19th century, German materialist philosophy overcame French spiritualist philosophy, which, according to some rulers, was the reason for France's failure in the war. Rational Spiritualism was swept under the carpet and Spiritism, which was already suffering from adulterations (we will talk about that in a moment) took the final blow, being practically forgotten in France, in Europe and, later, in the world. New icons of the philosophy of nothingness and materialist psychology (however paradoxical this idea may be), such as Nietzsche and Freud, were taken as idols, replacing rational spiritualist psychology with the perspective of the nullity of moral efforts and selfishness.

Adulterations in Spiritism

Very interesting details about the events after Allan Kardec's death can be gleaned from the books “O Legado de Allan Kardec”, by Simoni Privato, and “Ponto Final”, by Wilson Garcia. In short: the fateful and unexpected event shook spiritists everywhere, who struggled to regain some strength. Along with this, wars came and, in the Spiritist Society, Kardec's successor, Pierre Gaetan Leymarie, undermined scientific doctrinal principles, expelled old people, in the middle of winter, from homes created by Kardec for poor spiritists, burned correspondence carefully kept by the Professor and, for personal interests, he admitted to the Spiritist Magazine contents originating from the ideology of Roustaing, now deceased, who considered himself the revealer of truths, blindly believing in one or more obsessive Spirits who communicated through a medium. The care for rationality, for the general agreement of spiritist communications, ended and, to throw the last straw on French Spiritism, Leymarie was put on trial for publishing content originating from a charlatan, in what became known as “ Process of the Spiritists”.

Because of this whole scenario, Spiritism grew stronger in an already distorted Brazil. The origins of FEB, an institution that took the liberty of proclaiming itself the general leader of Spiritism in Brazil, in fact, are completely linked to these distortions. FEB was founded and guided by Roustaing's principles for a long time (read Ponto Final, by Wilson Garcia). This is the main reason for the distortions of the Brazilian Spiritist Movement.

Added to this, the Revista Espírita only came to be translated in the 1950s. Here, several false ideas were formed, with, as we have demonstrated, the assumption of not judging communications and not evoking Spirits for investigations being the most damaging of them.

The resumption

When we talk about resuming Spiritism, we talk about resuming it as a science. To do this, knowledge is needed, born from study, seriousness, will, purpose and collaboration. Mediumship, which does not belong to the Spiritist Doctrine or the Spiritist Movement, can be practiced by everyone, including outside of spiritist centers. Evocations are necessary and healthy, but here we need warn about some principles of the science of Spirits.

The Spiritist Doctrine, as a science, has the merit of having produced knowledge about the observation of phenomena and communications of Spirits, spread throughout the world. It was not born from Kardec's brain, but from thousands of evocations and facts, analyzed in a scientific way. We repeat this a lot, because this understanding is substantial.

Already in the time of Allan Kardec, mediumship was practiced everywhere. At first, with many errors; later, as knowledge became established, it became increasingly more serious and rational, leaving only dissidents and stubborn people who, not wanting to observe scientific principles and driven by self-love, insisted on banal errors, which almost always led them to obsessions. . We mentioned Roustaing a little while ago, who, preferring to blindly believe the words of Spirits that fed his ego, promptly turned against Kardec when he tried to warn him. It's like Icarus, who, warned that he couldn't approach the sun without getting burned, fed with his ego by his wings, ignored the warnings and ended up burned.

This general warning comes in line with the completion of this important call: Spiritism needs to be resumed, and this depends on knowledge and care. The evocations need to be resumed. The doctrine of Spirits needs to be developed again by small groups, cooperating with each other. This was the direction that Kardec sought to give to Spiritism, shortly before his death (read Spiritist Magazine — 1868 > December > Transitional Constitution of Spiritism), where Spiritism would start to be developed by scattered groups, coordinated among themselves, observing the principles already established by the method. People of any religion can do so, as mediumship does not belong to the Spiritist Movement. The centers need to return to being serious, controlled study centers. When resuming the evocations, it is clear that we will face different challenges; It is logical to assume that many will encounter difficulties and many others will fall into the error of vanity and personalism, struggling to establish false ideas, as is already the case. Unfortunately, we will find them mainly in the Spiritist Movement. But these are challenges that will be faced and, if they are done with the doctrinal knowledge that already exists, they will be quickly overcome, if they ever exist.

Let us envision a new future, where there is no fight between religions, but where individuals and groups cooperate with the restoration of evocations with a greater purpose: that of resuming the development of Spiritism. We will return to Spiritism in homes, as in Kardec's time, where family evocations consoled, taught and, at times, represented doctrinal interest. They will be spiritists, or their followers, people of any religion, any creed, or even non-believers, who, with the firm purpose of learning and with the full awareness of not being the holders of the truth, will seek, through evocations and collaboration, to restore the momentarily interrupted path of Spiritism, a doctrine capable of revolutionizing ideas and, thus, transforming individuals, families, groups and, finally, the world. The truth does not belong to anyone, but the theories that come closest to it can be found by that maxim expressed by Allan Kardec, representing the scientific method in Spiritism:

General concordance in teaching is the doctrine’s essential character, the condition even of its existence. It is evident that all principles which have not received the consecration of general agreement can only be considered as a fractional part of this same doctrine, merely as a simple, isolated opinion for which Spiritism cannot assume the responsibility.

It is the concordant, collective teaching of the spirits who have passed beyond which constitutes the logical criterion, giving strength to the spiritual doctrine and assuring to it perpetuity.

Allan Kardec – Genesis

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