March 31st. A date little known or little remembered in the Spiritist world, it is the day on which, in 1869, the beloved and emeritus professor, scientist, philosopher and scholar of Spiritist phenomena, Hypolite Leon Denizard Rivail, died - spelled that way, as he himself corrected , in a handwritten document, made available by CDOR. This was Allan Kardec, the one who dedicated the last years of his life and did, in little more than a decade, what few do in a lifetime: he obtained, through the rational and methodological observation of spiritist, natural and intelligent phenomena, an entire Doctrine, consoling in its essence and which, one day, will be recognized as the great revolution in human thought regarding life, society, charity and the truth about good.

the sad day

With a poetic beauty, Simoni Privato, in The Legacy of Allan Kardec, expresses it like this, about Kardec's death:

As he felt that his incarnation was passing quickly and he saw that his doctrinal tasks continued to increase, Allan Kardec avoided wasting time. […] There [at the Sainte-Anne Passage] worked from morning to night and often from night to morning, without even being able to rest, since he was just about to occupy himself with a work whose dimension can hardly be imagined and which increased as spiritism spread.

As the lease for the property on the Passage Sainte-Anne was about to expire, Allan Kardec intended to leave it on April 1, 1869 and retire to Villa Ségur, where he intended to concentrate more on the elaboration of doctrinal texts. On the same date, the office for subscription and dispatch of the Spiritist Magazine, as well as the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies would be transferred from Passagem Sainte-Anne to the headquarters of the Spiritist Bookshop, at 72 rue de Lille.

On Wednesday, March 31, Allan Kardec was at Passagem Sainte-Anne, organizing his books and papers for the move, which had already begun and should finish the next day. During the morning, he received an employee of a bookstore who wanted to purchase an issue of Revista Espírita. Upon handing him the copy, Allan Kardec suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground without having said a single word.

[…]

Until the last moment of his physical existence, Allan Kardec left deep teachings. He died as he lived: working for Spiritism. His industrious hands said goodbye to this world delivering the Spiritist Magazine — a periodical in which he recorded his teachings, his struggles, his victories and, in that last moment, his immortality.

[…]

In the cemetery, the curious tried to position themselves in the places where they could listen to the speeches. However, when the coffin descended to the bottom of the grave, emotion silenced the words; there was a great silence.

And this silence seems to have dragged on to the present day, in which most of the spiritist movement, in fact, does not know Allan Kardec and, much less, his work in the formation of the Spiritist Doctrine — Spiritism.

Allan Kardec forgotten

With great sadness, we can verify that, in the historical points that involve this great work, the name of Kardec does not exist, neither as Allan Kardec, nor as Rivail: it was erased by the time, as they did with all the scientists who dedicated themselves to study Spiritualism and Magnetism. There is no plaque dedicated to Kardec. There is no bust. There is no inscription on the wall or on the sidewalk, when, for much less, personalities of satirism or horror deserve a dedicated recording, under the light of the spotlight, on the sidewalks of fame that exist, around the world. Do not. On the streets of France, it seems that the only place where the dear professor deserves a memory is in the cemetery, as if out of obligation, and where, dead and buried, he doesn't attract anyone's attention with his “subversive” ideas.

But the big issue here is not just the forgetting of the figure of Allan Kardec, but his role as a spiritist scientist and his methodology, his honesty, his humility and his seriousness in the study of Spiritism. We do not worship Kardec, but we recognize his work and dedication. In a very pertinent parody, there are those who believe, today, that gravity is a great farce, for not having studied and understood the study of Isaac Newton, who started the physical sciences, as we know them today. It is the same with Spiritism.

An unknown doctrine

We said that the Spiritist Movement is unaware of Kardec and his work. Yes, in such a way that, in fact, to a large extent, they are unaware of the very Doctrine they claim to profess. Few know the enormous deviation that the Doctrine, or rather the Spiritist Movement, suffered after Kardec's death, at the hands of Leymarie and with the influence of Roustaing and his followers; few know that the works “A Genesis” and “O Céu e o Inferno” were tampered with, respectively in the 5th and 4th editions; few know that this influence spread and settled in the nascent Spiritist Movement, here in Brazil, right in its first steps; few know that Bezerra de Menezes himself, due to his religious inclinations, preferred Roustaguist ideas over spiritists and that, therefore, he spread them in Brazil; few know, still, that Kardec planned to start, from April 1869, a new phase of Spiritism, without centralizing figures or entities and without hierarchies, so that no one could dictate rules — a scenario totally different from what we live in our country. country, where, since the beginning of the Spiritist Movement, a Federation called itself centralizing and ruler — the same Federation that also put Roustaing above Kardec.

In Brazil, the country where Spiritism seems to have gained the greatest number of followers, we live in a religious Spiritist movement, with rituals and vestments, where “the telephone only rings from there to here” has become law and, worse, where the ideas of sin and punishment, karma, “law of cause and effect” or “law of action and reaction”, which Never were part of this Doctrine, they began to be taken as doctrinal.

I'm sorry, dear Chico, but, in the statement over the phone, he was wrong, or was misunderstood. However, the adepts err even more, who, due to lack of study and thoughtlessly, began to take the opinions of mediums and spirits as if they were the law or the unquestionable expression of truth and wisdom. That is why we reaffirm: the Spiritist Movement is unaware of Spiritism, since the fundamental point of the Doctrine is the one with which Kardec begins his latest work, A Genesis, presenting, right on the first page:

Generality and agreement in teaching, this is the essential character of the doctrine, the very condition of its existence, from which it follows that any principle that has not yet received the consecration of the control of generality cannot be considered an integral part of that same doctrine. It will be a simple isolated opinion, for which Spiritism cannot assume responsibility.

The Movement is much more unaware of the formation of the Doctrine, widely presented in the Spiritist Magazine (read This article), where Kardec, number after number, demonstrates several evocations of Spirits of the most diverse categories (according to the spiritist scale), asserting its usefulness. Kardec evoked assassins and scientists, wise and ignorant, suicides a few days after his death, kings and queens and, from all of them, he always obtained important teachings, which, progressively, through the method of seeking universal agreement, under the judgment of reason, common sense and human science, constituted a whole Doctrine and which later served as the basis for the formation of other works and for the complementation of The Spirits' Book.

The unknown tampering

But we cannot blame, at all, only the lack of commitment to study, as many studied, but studied without knowing that they were studying something adulterated, as was the case of A Genesis and Heaven and Hell[1]. Now, one of the most controversial points of OCI was born out of adulteration, as the following sentence did not exist in the original work, written by Kardec:

Every fault committed, every wrong done, is a debt that must be paid; if it is not so in one existence, it will be so in the next one or the following ones, because all existences are solidary with each other. He who discharges it in the present existence will not have to pay a second time.

Text inserted in the altered version of OCI, from the 4th edition

We know today, from historical documents, that not only these works, but the entire spiritist movement, under Leymarie's hands, was adulterated and subverted, in the name of money and vanity. One of the worst cases was the one known as “The Spiritist Process“, which tarnished the reputation of Spiritism in French society.

The context of Allan Kardec

We also did not know the context of Kardec, where Rational Spiritualism and Moral Sciences gave base education, as we can largely verify in “Autonomia: the never-told history of Spiritism”, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, a work that also presents the purely autonomous face of Spiritism, completely removed from notions such as karma, widely present in the current Spiritist Movement. Not only that, we also have the issue of Magnetism, constantly cited by Kardec as the twin science of Spiritism, so that one without the other would be incomplete. Now, Mesmer, “father” of Magnetism, only came to be understood recently, through the recovery and translation of his works, culminating in the book Mesmer: The negated science of animal magnetism, by the same author.

Anyway: we need to recover Kardec. We need to study him in his works and in the Spiritist Magazine; we need to understand the context in which it was inserted; we need to know Magnetism; we need to understand Spiritism as a science, which in fact it is, and not as a religion, which never was, but under the understanding of natural religion, according to the understanding of Rational Spiritualism. And, understanding Spiritism in its essence, we need to make it leave the closed circles of spiritist centers, to make it conquer society through its renewing and truly consoling ideas. But for that, change needs to start with the individual, then spread to the family and society.

Kardec overcome?

Many people think and say the following: “Kardec is outdated in the past, so let’s forget him and continue studying these new concepts we have today,” which is a profound error.

Spiritism is a science, both from the point of view of the French moral sciences, in the context of its birth, and from the point of view of a science of observation, which deduces, infers, analyzes empirically, as is very clear to all who study it in its sources. As a science, it has a foundation, without which it cannot advance. The Nuclear Physicist also needs to go through Newton, to later reach Einstein and, later, the current scientists.

In Spiritism, there are at least two things that have not changed in relation to our current state: morality and the Spirits. The first needs to be studied since Jesus, and even before, being one of the central proposals of Spiritism. The Spirits, on the other hand, continue to belong to that entire scale, proposed by Kardec and refined by the Spirits, and continue to communicate with us, influencing and leading us in the same ways they have always used. Since there is undeniably a science in this, it is necessary to study and understand it.

It is by forgetting Kardec that, today, pernicious, irrational and anti-doctrinal contents are accepted in the spiritist movement.

Do we have a lot to learn? Well, of course it is! And the Spirits teach us what we are ready to understand, according to the progress of our material science. Kardec “scratched” on such profound scientific matters, but which could not yet be understood. Imagine what he could achieve if, back then, we knew what we know today? Imagine, moreover, what a serious, elevated and honest researcher like him could obtain, according to current science, regarding everything that could not be explored in depth at that time?

But that, my dear ones, will only be done at the right time. That's why I echo Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo's words: let's study, study, study, until we get tired. Let's understand Spiritism in the Spiritist Magazine and in its complements. Let us study the works of Kardec, those of Bozzano, those that, today, study the context of Spiritism, inserted in Rational Spiritualism, and let us also study Mesmer's magnetism.

When we are ready, as in the past, the Spirits themselves will look for us and, who knows, they will need to turn tables and play invisible drums again in order to get our attention.

More motivation to study

And, if you still lack a motivation to delve into these studies, I leave you with the following reflection:

What keeps us from real happiness are our imperfections, our moral vices, our unbridled passions. Only the Spirit that conquered its imperfections, through the tests, and that developed its reasoning, through knowledge, manages to progress on the path of spiritual evolution. We all will, sooner or later, but the speed depends on the will of each one, based on reason, because only the Spirit that really you see, rationally.

Kardec says in Genesis: "He who does not control his passions can be very intelligent, but at the same time, very evil. Instinct annihilates itself; passions can only be tamed by the effort of will."

However, that chapter ends here, in the 5th edition of this work (which formed the basis for all translations and future editions), which, we now know, has strong indications of having been tampered with. Taking the 4th edition, we have the following closing, all-important, omitted for tampering:

All men go through passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence. of their previous existences, having rid themselves of this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they do, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without having to spell. It is as if they were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still recovering and hesitates to walk; or as two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.

Everything that we live, therefore, as the Doctrine shows us, it's never about punishment, but of opportunities for our evolution. Spiritism is autonomous in its essence — “In the eyes of God, repentance is sacred, because it is man who judges himself, which is rare on your planet” [RE — October 1858].

If all that doesn't motivate you to study Kardec, we don't know what else would.

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1. The FEAL publishing house already has the translations of these works, according to the original text. The context of the tampering of A Genesis can be understood by reading the work O Legado de Allan Kardec, by Simoni Privato; the adulteration of O Céu e o Inferno can be understood in the work “Nem heaven, nor hell: The laws of the soul according to Spiritism”, by Lucas Sampaio and Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo

French actor Alain Delon stated that he will perform euthanasia, as reported by Veja SP. Alain, who considers the suicide watched “the most logical and natural thing”, he said, in a post on Instagram:

“I made my decision a long time ago, I think my life was beautiful but also very difficult. I never liked getting old. All these everyday pains and challenges make me paralyzed.”

Unfortunately, the actor does not know Spiritism, which would be almost comical, if it were not tragic, for being, precisely, born in the land where the Spiritist Doctrine was born, more than 160 years ago. But I am not talking here about the Spiritualism-religion of the current spiritist movement, the one that says that the suicidal person will feel his body being gnawed by worms, or that he will suffer in the “valley of suicides”, or that he will be reborn in a defective body. We have already talked about the unreality of these generic claims. in this article.

No: here we speak of Spiritism in its scientific essence, a doctrine whose theory was born from the rational observation of the universally agreed teachings of the Spirits. This Doctrine, in its essence, shows us the following: life is an opportunity for learning and elevation. Finishing it ahead of time, on your own, is a great waste of time, as it distances you from the elevation and learning made possible by life's trials and opportunities.

It happens that every second on Earth, however difficult it may be, if well faced and overcome, brings us closer to the final goal, which is the happiness of the good and the just. How, however, to reach this state of happiness, without getting rid of imperfections and passions - which is only done through the tests of life, will and learning?

This, of course, is entirely different from the case of animal euthanasia.

The actor, unfortunately, is not aware of this fact of our spiritual reality. On the other hand, after committing the act, one day you will probably see the uselessness of it… And that's it. There is no punishment: there is error, born of ignorance. A better understanding of these issues leverages our progress, allowing us to reach happiness sooner, according to our commitment to elevate ourselves through our own effort. We wish him, and others, that they may soon understand these matters.

I close leaving the subject for reflection, as discussed in The Gospel According to Spiritism:

Is it lawful to shorten the life of a sick person who suffers without hope of cure?
28. A man is dying, prey to cruel sufferings. It is known that his condition is desperate. Is it lawful to spare him a few moments of anguish, hastening his end?

Who would give you the right to prejudge God's designs? Can he not lead the man to the edge of the ditch, to pull him out of it, in order to make him come to himself and entertain ideas different from those he had? Even if a dying man has reached the last extreme, no one can say with certainty that the last hour has struck him. Has science never been wrong in its predictions?

I am well aware that there are cases that can rightly be considered hopeless; but if there is no well-founded hope of a definitive return to life and health, there is the possibility, attested by countless examples, that the patient, at the very moment of exhaling his last breath, revive himself and recover for a few moments his faculties. ! Well then: this hour of grace, which is granted to him, may be of great importance to him. You do not know the reflections that your Spirit can make in the convulsions of agony and how many torments a flash of regret can spare you.

The materialist, who sees only the body and has no account of the soul, is unable to understand these things; the spiritist, however, who already knows what is happening beyond the grave, knows the value of a last thought. Lessen the last sufferings as much as you can; but beware of shortening your life, even for a minute, because that minute can save you many tears in the future.

St. Louis.
Paris, 1860

This will be a very succinct article, but of great reflections.

Religions, however far from the truth because of their dogmas, which aim to keep the people in ignorance, due to the thirst for power and control, have their uses. Of course, all of them advance - just compare, in general, the Catholic Church of 150 years ago, or even much less, with that of today - although they advance very slowly and only when they are forced to do so, most of the time. . With all this, they have always been receptacles of a certain truth, transmitted through the centuries, until the moment when man could understand and advance on these ideas.

It is a fact that, because of this thirst for control and dominion, the dogmas created for this purpose have long kept consciences under the thoughtlessness of fear and blind obedience, but, once again, the time has come. Let's look at the ranks of the churches: every day more, they are emptying. However, those who leave there, we don't find anyone who gives a better answer, they find the only answer that exists, which is in materialism.

We live exactly the same process faced between the 18th and 19th centuries, from which, in a short time (relatively speaking) we will see the emergence of a movement contrary to all this, seeking in spiritualism the answer that neither religions nor materialism can give.

However, today, we have an advantage. The very important studies on Rational Spiritualism, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo (mainly), can leverage this process; Spiritism, this time, does not need to be born from scratch, but only needs to be resumed in its original essence – what many recent studies, including those by Paulo, have helped a lot to accomplish. We are much closer to a revolution of ideas, which will not happen through politics, which is coercive, but through individual will, which responds to reason and free will.

My reader friend, I believe that in a few decades we will be able to see a new world. For this, however, the social foundations must be shaken - this time, not through force, but through the ideas of charity and good and, above all, autonomy through will and reason - and, for that, it is up to each of us to study exhaustively all these sources of knowledge in order to carry forward, in every possible situation, and outside the spiritist milieu, this consoling and transforming knowledge.

And we can start right now, weaving, for example, proposals to approach education, today predominantly heteronomous, experienced under the aspects of sin and punishment, with the Pestalozzi and Spiritist proposals, autonomous in all their essence.

We have a lot to do. And this process does not aim to derogate from religions, as it never did: it aims, above all, to bring about the strengthening of the truth that exists in them and to remove what there is of errors and untruths.

We also recommend reading the article “Spiritism and the world of regeneration: how will we get there?“

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.

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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.

For those who didn't see it, yesterday, on the night of the Oscars 2022, Will Smith, when taking the stage, gave a big slap in the face of the presenter, Chris Rock. It turns out that, shortly before, he had made a joke, associating Will's wife, who suffers from hair loss due to an illness, with the protagonist of an old movie, where the protagonist has her hair shaved.

Will got up, walked towards Chris, “armed”, as we can see in his physical behavior and gave him a big slap in the face. No, it doesn't seem to have been a staging, as we can see in the video to the side and, even if it were, the reflection would remain, as we could do with a film.

And what does that have to do with our subject here? Well, actually, a lot, as with a lot of everyday happenings. Let's see:

First, we can justify Will's action?

Well, we are not here to judge anyone, but only to analyze actions that can give us a guide for timely reflections. We can, at first glance, raise the issue of defense: Will would only be defending the image and honor of his wife, which would justify the act.

If it had been just over a century, the case would have made a beautiful duel: there would be a challenge from which, probably, only one of them would come out alive. In fact, the “slap in the face” comes precisely from this past habit: the challenger, hit in his honor, with his hand or with a glove, hit the offender in the face, challenging him to a gun duel.

757. Can the duel be considered a case of self-defense?

"No; it is murder and an absurd custom, worthy of barbarians. With a more advanced civilization and more moral, man will understand that the duel is as ridiculous as the combats that were once considered to be the judgment of God.”

The Book of Spirits

Dueling, however it may be, is something that makes a man ridiculous. Lives are wasted and suffering unfolds in matters of banal disputes which, moreover, almost always have the honor as the central point of contention.

759. What value has what is called point of honor, in the matter of dueling?

“Pride and vanity: humanity’s double wound.”

The two excerpts above were taken from The Spirits' Book, by Allan Kardec. Of course, we are not here talking about a duel to the death — something that, in different ways, still happens — but we can refer to the Spirits' Book, in terms of the spirits' concurring opinion in this regard. If you don't know what Spiritism is all about, which is a science whose theory was born from the rational and methodological observation of spiritual manifestations and communications, Click here to access a master's thesis on the subject.

Remembering: we are not here taking this work as a sacred code, but rather bringing it to support, through the Doctrine of the Spirits, to our reflection. And we see, after all, what rationally becomes wide open to our eyes, but which we rarely want to admit: behind it all is wounded pride and threatened vanity. After all, in the case at hand, the answer could have been higher: Will could have taken the opportunity to give several moral lessons on the issues involved. But there are more of the aspects enclosed in the question; let's go to them:

the passions

In the past, back in the 19th century, it was very common and clear to use the term passion to designate the strong human attachment to an object, theme, person or feeling. So a man passionate, at that time, he would have been a man frantic in his attachment to a particular issue.

Today, it is more common to be the word emotion associated with that context. However, understanding the meaning of the first, I think that the second does not represent the high degree of attachment as well as the first. For example, a man may be feeling the emotion of anger, but this emotion can be in different degrees, and, to a certain extent, this emotion, which emanates from the instinct, is useful and beneficial (eg, when we feel angry when trying to open a screw-on lid that won't come off: anger gives us even more strength to open it, but if left unchecked, it often hurts us in the process). On the other hand, in saying that man is experiencing the passion from anger, it is very well understood that he is in a very high degree of attachment to this emotion that, despite emanating from instinct, which is always useful and balanced, arrived in a state of madness and incontainment.

And then follows, in the same sequence, a complement by Kardec to the previous question, in OLE:

[759] a) — But are there not cases where honor is truly pledged, and where a refusal would be cowardice?

“That depends on the uses and customs. Each country and each century has a different way of seeing it. When men are better and more advanced in morals, they will understand that the true point of honor is above earthly passions and that it is not killing, nor letting oneself be killed, that they will repair wrongs.”

It is “beautiful” to see that the Spirits themselves, when superior, do not judge us with contempt. They always denote that everything is in accordance with our evolution, that is, with our time and the customs of each people. A simple example: in the old days, Japanese samurai took their own life, with a dagger, when they recognized themselves guilty and without honor.

But the main point is at the end of the paragraph: “the true point of honor is above earthly passions and that it is not killing, nor allowing oneself to be killed, that they will repair grievances”. It is in overcoming the passions that we will find the true point of honor, the true feeling, the true charity. It is through this overcoming that we will advance to a new stage of society, but this is only done by will and individual choice. How, then, to arrive at this new state of earthly things?

Kardec, in A Genesis (chapter III), concludes: “He who does not master his passions can be very intelligent, but, at the same time, very bad. Instinct annihilates itself; the passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.“. However, this chapter ends here, in the 5th edition of this work, which, we now know, has strong indications of having been tampered with. Taking the 4th edition, we have the following closure:

All men go through passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence. of their previous existences, having rid themselves of this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they do, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without having to spell. It is as if they were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still recovering and hesitates to walk; or as two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.

This original ending is very important. It will precisely show the central point: we tame the passions through our will, in the effort made through many incarnations, in the face of trials and atonements.

So here, taking Will's case as an example, we could say: it was an impetus of passions that led him to act that way. Probably now he regrets, somewhere, for what he did. What if he had a gun and, in a rush, had taken Chris Rock's life? Well, maybe, at some point, he would feel enormous guilt. This guilt could stop you on your journey, because you are under an enormous weight of remorse and, especially, if you believe that you have sinned and deserve punishment. How to resume walking? Realizing, after all, that you have committed a error, precisely for not knowing how to deal with passions. Finally, we ask: what matters more: punishing oneself or looking for ways to exercise the learning to contain these passions? Since the second case allows for learning and evolution, while the first paralyzes, we are left with the second option. There is, then, one last thought:

Who was the cause of all this disagreement?

Well, we know from the study of Spiritism that we are all the time surrounded by a “cloud of witnesses”, as Kardec would say. Spirits are everywhere all the time and, as it is still a very backward planet, it is natural to assume that there are mostly imperfect Spirits.

In the Spiritist Magazine of October 1858, in the article “The evil of fear”, Kardec quotes a teaching from São Luís:

Evil spirits like to have fun. Watch out for them! He who thinks he is saying a pleasant phrase to the people around him and who amuses a society with jokes and acts, is sometimes wrong, and even many times, when he thinks that all this comes from himself. The frivolous spirits that surround him identify with him in such a way that, little by little, they deceive him about his thoughts, deceiving also those who listen to him. In this case, think you are dealing with a man of spirit, who is nevertheless an ignorant. Think carefully, and you will understand what I say to you.

Not that we are here claiming that the presenter is a ignorant in any aspect. We only highlight the passage because, many times, between jokes that make the audience happy, we are mentally fed by Spirits who aim at nothing more than having fun. When we are not aware of this and do not watch ourselves, we can carry this identification very far, until, at the expense of our unhappiness, we fall into traps like these. Now, it would be too much to suppose that, if we were seers, we would see a multitude of inferior spirits, beside the actor, if dying of laughter after seeing the slap caused by the bad suggestion they may have given, mentally, to the presenter?

And that takes the responsibility away from that presenter? Far from it. If we go to a bar and give in to the bad suggestions of frivolous “friends” who incite us to a fight, is it their fault or is it ours? We believe the question is already well answered.

It is thus, in short, that we take different lessons from the spiritist theory for everyday life, as, incidentally, Kardec often did in the Spiritist Magazine. We pray that this theory may spread more and more in order to positively influence society which, perhaps more than ever, seeks so many answers to the moral and social questions of humanity.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=u8NtoM5IiCk

We have talked a lot about suicide according to Spiritism and, perhaps, our positions have not always been absolutely clear and concise. Because of this, we believe it is necessary to adopt a new approach, in a succinct and clear way.

by Paulo Degering R. Jr.

Read to the end

the suicidal, as long as you're aware of what you're doing, he will have some moral suffering when he realizes the loss of time that was to interrupt his own life. He said "as long as you're aware of what you're doing” because sometimes there is no such awareness. Furthermore, he will almost always have a greater difficulty in detaching himself from the body, which, far from being weakened, was at the fullest of its strength.

Kardec expressed himself like this, in The Spirits' Book:

This effect is not general; but in no case is the suicidal person exempt from the consequences of his lack of courage, and sooner or later he atones, in one way or another, for the guilt he has incurred. This is how certain spirits, who were very unfortunate on Earth, said they had committed suicide in the previous existence and submitted voluntarily to new tests, to try to bear them with more resignation.

Note the highlighted word: voluntarily. The suicidal person can, in a new incarnation, choose rough trials in order to try to overcome them, learning to bear the vicissitudes with greater resignation.

But then they will tell you: read the book “Memoirs of a suicide”

The book “Memoirs of a suicide”

In this book, very briefly, a Spirit talks about his extreme suffering after death. It was there that the image of the “valley of suicides” was created, something like a “place” where suicidal Spirits would be “purging” their faults.

It turns out that Spirits don't look for locations. Spirits seek Spirits or situations, according to their beliefs and ideas — consciously or not. Spirits — all of them — attract each other by affinity and feelings, as, for example, by love or hate, but also by the same tune of thoughts. Spirits that judge themselves guilty often throw themselves into a real hell mental, in a situation that is often shared by other Spirits in a similar situation, who, then, together, can form true landscapes of suffering, through mental action on fluidic matter.

So Yvonne do Amaral Pereira wrong or lied?

Not necessarily. When it comes to Spirits, we know that they are like us — with the same virtues and imperfections. Thus, they can speak with real wisdom, or with false ideas, in which they believe. They can often even trick. We do not know who this Spirit was who psychographed through Yvonne. He was probably a suffering Spirit, with very limited ideas about the spiritual world. What we know is that, without a shadow of a doubt, we cannot disrespect the basic principle of spirit science: the universal agreement of the teaching of the Spirits. Kardec would say, in A Genesis, right in the first lines:

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.

The problems of false concepts in the Spiritist Movement

In spiritist circles, it is commonplace nowadays to hear statements such as “the suicide goes to the valley of suicides”, or “the suicide will encounter enormous suffering, as he will be trapped in his body and will feel the worms gnawing at him” or, even , “the suicide, in the next incarnation, will come with a defective body, to 'redeem' his faults”. None of this reflects the reality of suicide according to Spiritism, in a generic way.

The current spiritist movement began to adopt several false concepts and half-truths, obtained through individual and isolated reports from some Spirits, as if it were the unquestionable truth about all situations. A colleague of ours would say: modern spiritualists began to place a whole universe of variable possibilities in “little boxes”. For example: did you kill yourself? Go to the “box” in the suicide valley. Burned a person? It goes to the “death in fire in the next life” “box”. All this, as a general rule, it's not a truth.

Unfortunately, many of us - myself included - for lack of previous studies and, often, willingly, wanting to help, we release these phrases that often cause revolt and distance from people who come to seek, precisely in Spiritism, an answer different of what is being said out there.

It happens that, in the last year, after the beginning of our studies on the Spiritist Magazine, many concepts were clarified, others were replaced and many others were forgotten. Kardec, already in the first editions of RE, in 1858, makes evocations of at least three suicidal spirits, analyzing their individual cases. Others that were made on other occasions also appear in later issues, as well as in the book O Céu e o Inferno (from Editora FEAL, corresponding to the original, unadulterated). And, analyzing these communications, there is a very big lesson, which we will try to explain objectively below.

Rather, it is important to remember that Spiritism, as a Scientific Doctrine, does not stop man by imposing fear, because the brake of passions by this type of device is only temporary and without great results. No: Spiritism comes to present the truth based on the analysis of the facts, through the rational and concordant study of the communications of the Spirits given by all parts and for all times. When studying Spiritism, we are no longer guided by fear, but for the reason, and it is only when the Spirit enters the state of reason that it actually makes better and clearer decisions.

Well, well: on the subject of suicide, we repeat that, based on these studies, the results initially highlighted cannot be taken as a general rule. Yes, there are Spirits in enormous disturbance that believe being gnawed by worms, for his mind was still on the sight of the torn body. There are also those who find themselves in hellish places, because they believe that it should be so and because if throw themselves into hellish mental situations, where, alone or in a group, they create true diabolical or purgatorial scenarios. In addition to these, there are those who piously believe that death is the end of life and then fall into a more or less prolonged sleep, as there are also those rare who, after the fateful act, momentarily they see themselves freed from physical pain, believing themselves, then, to be free from moral pain, which they still do not know how to distinguish from the first.

Therefore, the situation of each one, after death by suicide, will vary much, on a case-by-case basis and according to the — degree of awareness of what they do. That is why a Spirit who takes his life in an impetus of despair almost always has a much lower degree of guilt - before his own conscience - than one who, knowing Spiritism and the doctrine of choice of proofs and expiations, after taking the life of his own body, he falls into a deep sense of guilt and heavy lamentations, for he regrets having given up the opportune proofs for his own advancement. Furthermore, it is important to say that, almost always, these acts cause pain in those who love us, which increases the bitterness of the Spirit when evaluating the extent of the results of their act.

What we seek to say, after all, is that the Spirit does not suffer materially, in any way. You may believe that you suffer and, mentally, create a false sense of physical pain, but in fact, suffering is moral and consistent with the degree of conscience and guilt you have, towards yourself, about the harm done to yourself. . We would say that, since suicide is the abandonment of the tests chosen by oneself, it will almost always accompany a lesser or greater moral suffering, but it will never represent an end in the opportunities granted by God for our evolution, nor will it, as a rule, cause a expiatory suffering in the next incarnation. Once again, depends on one's mindset, beliefs and knowledge.

But in the end, what's the point of killing yourself?

We know that, almost always, suicide is an attempt to escape from pain or despair that one does not know how to deal with. You see, however: the fact that that situation is happening is precisely an important learning opportunity, in order to deal with these situations. If we don't know how to deal with it, it's because we still have acquired imperfections or passions, that is, emotions that we still do not completely know how to deal with. Going to the extreme of taking life from the body will only prolong this state of ignorance or imperfection, with consequent suffering. moral, since we didn't win the test, that is, we didn't acquire experience and strength to overcome it.

Where, then, to find strength? Well, we are incarnated for a reason: to learn and to let go of possible imperfections created by ourselves. In the world of Spirits - Space - time does not exist, so that the Spirit who has developed imperfections is incessantly occupied with them, either in an illusion of pleasures, or in a self-persecution caused by remorse. Thus, if we have developed any imperfection, this imperfection will be, for us, the reason for worries that seem endless - this is the explanation why certain spirits, in a state of suffering, say that such a situation seems to them to have no end.

Well, I was talking about the reason for incarnation, which, far from the false idea of being a punishment, is, on the contrary, a divine blessing, as it offers an opportunity for common learning and detachment from acquired imperfections. Here, it is possible to put ourselves in contact with people of all kinds, carry out different activities, etc., everything that leads us to leave, or at least break the cycle, of these situations of moral suffering. What is, however, the first and greatest mistake that those who suffer morally usually make - also induced by imperfect spirits? isolate yourself. There is the first step towards the fall, because isolation will cause precisely this scenario of endless self-persecution. Do not make this mistake, and seek to help those who do, if possible following the reasoning above.

Faced with a difficult test, who says we have to go through it alone? Often, this thought of solitary confrontation also originates from false ideas or even from a certain pride, which turns into a shell, for fear of exposing yourself. Certainly we will not go out on the street telling anyone who passes by about our difficulties, but certainly, with the purpose of seeking help, you will find it, perhaps not in the first psychologist, perhaps not in the first friend, perhaps not in the first group of activities. any, but you will find it, because you are not alone: by your side, leading you towards good, there is a good Spirit, higher than you - your guardian angel or protective spirit. The important thing is not to isolate yourself, nor to isolate yourself. Seek. Look for a charity activity group, look for a morning walk group, look for, above all, be useful, and that will make you gravitate towards situations and people that can, slowly and progressively, help in its construction.

It is up to each of us to will to change or not, to learn or not, but this work is much favored by the development of reason — this is why we so defend the study of Spiritism. Through our modification, we will become stronger and advance several steps in a single life and, who knows, tomorrow we will not need to return to this same kind of painful situation, perhaps conquering the happiness of being able to live in better worlds or that, if here reincarnate, let us be much more strengthened and prepared.

I'm not talking lip service here: I'm talking about what I myself have lived and learned. I went through a kind of restlessness, I went through isolation, I went through self-persecution. I allowed myself, however, to be influenced by good spirits, and that moved me to various situations that, slowly and progressively, brought me here. One of these situations was very interesting: I decided to visit a nursing home close to my house, where I had contact with several elderly people who taught me a lot about perseverance; I was welcomed with great affection by a Catholic prayer group, whose leader was a medium and probably didn't know it; but the most interesting thing is that, on the shelf of that institution, where there was a predominance of Catholicism, there were, on the shelf in the common room, some copies of the Spiritist Magazine, which I got to pick up, I even leafed through, but I ended up not reading it at that time. I only came to know the Magazine about a year later. Evaluate for yourself the paths along which the good spirits lead us, leaving us the freedom to go ahead or not, open the door or keep it closed.

Remember, after all: no one can do us harm but ourselves. Interrupting your own life is a waste of time, which generates guilt and remorse and no stops the moral suffering caused by imperfections that may still exist in us ((Remembering that ignorance and imperfection are different things. Imperfection is acquired by the habit of repeating a mistake; ignorance can lead to error, but, as long as we overcome it, it's just a mistake)).

And if someone close to you is thinking about killing himself, bring that kind of thought to him. If someone has already taken their own life, in your prayers for that person, talk to this Spirit, so that he can leave the feeling of helplessness in the face of guilt, get up and resume the evolutionary path.

Let us study, precisely, in order to to throw, from people's minds and from the Spiritist movement, the false ideas that hinder more than help. A Spirit that does not want to leave the coffin, does so because it believes that only Jesus himself will come to take him by the hand, on the day of final judgment. Let us not act like those prisoners of conscience, let us not create false conceptions in people's thinking. Matter and sensations after death are not anything. All that matters is thought, will and reason. And finally, let's not take the opinion of isolated spirits as if they were the pure truth - regardless of the medium that made it possible.

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Today I was “philosophizing” about this subject, and I came up with the following ideas which, I highlight, are based on my way of seeing the topic and on my knowledge of Spiritism – which may not reflect the most complete reality. Below are my considerations:

Let us reflect: modification does not come from the top down, as an imposition, but from the bottom up, from the individual to society, as choice. Therefore, the planet will only be transformed by the change of its inhabitants. And when we talk about regeneration, what is a Spirit that regenerates itself, failing to undergo trials and atonements? In my understanding, it is the Spirit that starts to look within itself, moving from planning lives that only aim to bring “reparative sufferings”, to planning lives that give them more opportunities for learning to smother their imperfections. And how does this happen? Only by will, fueled by reason. Therefore, as I understand, it is precisely the knowledge reinforced by Spiritism that will enable us to conquer a new terrestrial “environment”.

As long as the spirits continue to be shackled to the old con- – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. However, as they understand that what they really need is to strengthen themselves through learning and reason, in contact with valuable knowledge, in order to deal with their imperfections, they will, in my view, plan their lives more wisely.

After all, which causes more suffering: physical pain, which ends with death, or moral pain, which continues until the factor that caused it is resolved? Isn't that how we act here? When we make a mistake, we often want to be punished in order to relieve our conscience, so that we want to put aside the real problem, which is our imperfection and the moral suffering that originates from it, due to mistakes. The more mature individual, however, knows that punishment does not solve it, and seeks to face his own problems, which made him wrong.

For example: in that case of the Assassin Lemaire (RE – March 1858) he knew he had to deal with his imperfections. How did you think about doing this? He planned to be born in the midst of crime, but he failed in his attempt, as the environment was stronger than him, who still did not have much stronger will and reason. When he failed in his attempt, he was one more to spread criminality, allying other spirits to his intentions. What if – what if! – would he, more consciously, have planned a different life? What if, instead of putting himself under the environment of crime, to fight with his passions, he had chosen a firm and kind family, which would give him a better education and put him in contact with contents that could help him to strengthen his will to overcome your imperfections, through reason? Perhaps he had managed to overcome many of his imperfections, in addition to no longer being one of the criminals.

Isn't that, as a general understanding, generating better decisions, great for the planet? Wouldn't it cause a huge change to society? I think so. But this requires, in the foreground, that the Spirit faces itself: that it places itself under a critical perspective and that it faces its own “demons”. Now, in a society that insists on believing, because it is easier, in the imposition of divine punishments, we see how far we are still from this new era on this planet... , develop our virtues and seek to elevate ourselves, in the good, so that we can conquer the possibility of incarnating in happier worlds.

Who knows….

I finish with Kardec, in A Gênesis (4th edition, original – the excerpt was deleted in the 5th edition, which many say has not been tampered with):

To say 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 bring about. Then they will prove to be more advanced than one might suppose, and they will eagerly follow the lead of the majority. 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 for interest. They are those whose material interests are linked to the current conjuncture and who are not advanced enough to give them up, as the general good matters less than their personal good – they are apprehensive at the slightest reform movement. The truth is a secondary issue for them, or, better said, the truth for some people lies entirely in that which does not cause them any trouble. All progressive ideas are, from their point of view, subversive ideas, and therefore they have an implacable hatred for them and make a stubborn war against them. They are intelligent enough to see Spiritism as 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”.

Kardec, The Genesis, 4th Edition – FEAL

Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > June > Confessions of Louis XI – Extracted from the life of Louis XI.

Poisoning of the Duke of Guyenne

…I got busy after Guyenne. Odet d'Aidies, lord of Lescun, who had quarreled with me, was conducting the preparations for the war with marvelous vivacity. It was with great effort that I fed the bellicose ardor of my brother, the Duke of Guyenne. He had to fight a fearsome adversary in my brother's mind: Madame Thouars, lover of Charles, Duke of Guyenne.

This woman only sought to take advantage of the power she exercised over the young duke, in order to divert him from the war, for she was not unaware that the war was aimed at the marriage of her lover. His secret enemies had affected, in his presence, to praise the beauty and brilliant qualities of the bride. This was enough to persuade her that her doom would be certain if that princess were to marry the Duke of Guyenne. Certain of my brother's passion, she resorted to tears, prayers, and all the extravagances of a woman lost in such a situation. The fainthearted Carlos relented and communicated his new resolutions to Lescun. Lescun immediately warned the Duke of Brittany and the interested parties, who, in alarm, sent representations to my brother. These, however, had only the effect of plunging him back into his doubts.

However, the favorite managed, not without difficulty, to dissuade him again from war and marriage. From then on, the death of the favorite was decided by all the princes.

Fearing that my brother would attribute it to Lescun, whose dislike of Madame Thouars was known to him, they decided to win over Jean Faure Duversois, a Benedictine monk, my brother's confessor and abbot of Saint-Jean d'Angély. This man was one of the greatest supporters of the Lady of Thouars, and no one was ignorant of the hatred he felt for Lescun, whose political influence he envied. My brother was not likely to blame his mistress's death on him, for that priest was one of his most trusted favourites. Since only the thirst for greatness connected him to the favourite, he was easily corrupted.

For a long time I tried to seduce the abbot, but he always rejected my offers. However, it left me with the hope of achieving my goal.

He easily understood the situation he would get himself into by rendering the princes the service they asked of him, for he knew that it was not difficult for them to get rid of an accomplice. On the other hand, I knew my brother's fickleness and feared becoming his victim.

To reconcile his safety with his interests, he resolved to sacrifice his young lord. Taking such a side, he had as much chance of success as he had of failure. For the princes, the death of the young Duke of Guyenne must have been the result of a mistake or an unforeseen incident. Even when imputed to the Duke of Brittany and his cronies, the death of the favorite would have gone unnoticed, so to speak, since no one would have discovered the reasons that gave it real importance, from a political point of view.

Granting that they could be blamed for the death of my brother, they would have been exposed to the greatest dangers, for it would have been my duty to punish them severely. They knew that it was not good will that I lacked and that in that case the people might turn against them. Then the Duke of Burgundy himself, oblivious to what was going on in Guyenne, would have been forced to ally himself with me, on pain of being accused of complicity. Even in the latter case, everything would have worked out in my favor. I could have Charles the Bold declared a criminal of lèse majesty and have Parliament condemn him to death for the murder of my brother. Such condemnations, pronounced by that high court, always had great results, especially when they were of indisputable legitimacy.

It is easy to see what interest the princes had in handling the abbot. On the other hand, nothing is easier than getting rid of him in secret.

But with me, the abbot of Saint-Jean had a greater chance of impunity. The service he rendered was of the greatest importance to me, especially at that moment, because the formidable league that was being formed and of which the Duke of Guyenne was the center must infallibly lose me. The only way to destroy it would be the death of my brother, which represented my salvation. He aspired to the favour of Tristan the Hermit, thinking that by this means he would rise above him, or at least share my good graces and my trust in him. Moreover, the princes had been imprudent enough to leave in his hands undisputed proof of his guilt: they were several writings, and as they were written in very vague terms, it was not difficult to substitute the person of my brother for that of his favourite, designated there between the lines. By handing me these documents, he removed from me any doubt as to my innocence; for that reason, he avoided the only danger he ran on the side of the princes, and, proving that I was in no way involved in the poisoning, he ceased to be my accomplice and exempted myself from any interest in having him killed.

It remained to prove that he himself was not involved. This was a minor difficulty. To begin with, he was assured of my protection; afterwards, the princes had no proof of their guilt, and he could return the charges to them, by way of slander.

The Abbot agrees to practice poisoning

All in all, he sent me an emissary who pretended to have come spontaneously to tell me that the Abbe de Saint-Jean was unhappy with my brother. I immediately saw the full advantage I could make of such an arrangement and fell into the trap set by the astute abbot. Not suspecting that this man had been sent by him, I dispatched one of my trusted spies. Saint-Jean played his part so well that the emissary was deceived. Based on his report, I wrote to the abbot in order to win him over. He appeared to be very scrupulous, but I triumphed, albeit with some difficulty. He agreed to take charge of the poisoning of my young brother. I was so perverted that I didn't hesitate to commit this horrible crime.

Henri de la Roche, squire of the Duke's repostaria, was charged with preparing a peach that would be offered by the abbot himself to Mme. de Thouars while having lunch at my brother's table. The beauty of this fruit was remarkable. She caught the prince's attention and shared it with him. As soon as they had both eaten, the favourite felt violent pains in her bowels and soon expired in the midst of atrocious suffering. My brother experienced the same symptoms but with much less violence.

Perhaps it seems strange that the abbot should have used such a means to poison his young lord. In fact, the slightest incident could jeopardize your plan. It was, however, the only thing that prudence could authorize: it admitted the possibility of a mistake. Touched by the peach's beauty, it was only natural for Mrs. de Thouars to attract the attention of her lover and offer him half; he couldn't help but accept her and eat a little, even out of consideration. Assuming that he ate only a little bit, this would be enough to provoke the first necessary symptoms; a later poisoning could determine death, as a consequence of the first one.

The princes were seized with terror as soon as they learned of the dire consequences of the favourite's poisoning. They had not the slightest suspicion of the abbot's premeditation. They thought only of giving every appearance of naturalness to the young lady's death and her lover's illness. None of them took the initiative to offer a counter-poison to the unfortunate prince, for fear of compromising himself. Indeed, such an attitude would imply that the poison was known and, consequently, that someone was an accomplice to the crime.

Thanks to his youth and the strength of his temper, Carlos resisted the poison for some time. His physical sufferings did nothing but bring him back to his old projects with more ardor. Fearing that illness would lessen the zeal of his officers, he wanted them to renew their oath of allegiance. As he required them to engage in his service, against all odds, even against me, some of them, fearful of their death, which seemed at hand, refused to do so, and passed over to my court.

Conclusion

In the previous issue, we saw the interesting details given by Louis XI regarding his death. The fact that we have just reported is no less remarkable from the double point of view of history and the phenomenon of manifestations. In fact, we only had difficulties with the choice: the life of this king, as dictated by himself, is indisputably the most complete we have and, we can say, the most impartial. Louis XI's state of mind allows him today to appreciate things at their fair value. From the three chosen fragments, one can see how he makes his own judgment. He explains his politics better than any of his historians. He does not absolve himself of his conduct, and in his death, so sad and so vulgar for a monarch a few hours before all-powerful, he sees an anticipated punishment.

As a phenomenon of manifestations, this work offers a special interest. He proves that spiritist communications can enlighten us about history, as long as we know how to place ourselves in favorable conditions. We hope that the publication of the life of Louis XI, as well as that of Charles VIII, which has also been completed, will soon be placed alongside that of Joan of Arc.

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This article provides an important complement to the article “Imposter Spirits – The False Father Ambrósio”, from July 1858, which served as the basis for the article called “The role of the researcher and the medium in communications with the Spirits“". Click here to read.

In this edition, Kardec begins by addressing the problem of certain contradictions in spiritist communications: “At first glance these contradictions really seem to be one of the main stumbling blocks of the Spirit Science”

Remembering that Spiritism is a science, not a religion, for a few reasons:

• It is a development of Rational Spiritualism[1]
• It is, objectively, a positive science – an expression always used by Kardec – in the sense of a knowledge formed from the methods of observation and experimentation of the facts.
• It can only be seen as religion from the point of view of natural religion, as approached by the ER, and the “moral” aspect comes from precisely this same origin!

Kardec emphasizes that all science, in its beginning, has its contradictions, which only disappear as this science develops and one begins to understand what was not understood before.

“By the way, the Spirits always told us not to worry about these small differences and that in a short time everyone would be taken to the unity of belief. In fact, this prediction is realized daily, as we penetrate more and more into the causes of these mysterious phenomena and as the facts are better observed. On the other hand, the dissidences manifested at the origin evidently tend to weaken. It can even be said that currently they are nothing more than isolated personal opinions[2].”

"Although Spiritism is in Nature and has been known and practiced since the highest antiquity, it is a fact that at no other time was it so universally spread as it is today..

[…]

It was reserved for our century, in which progress receives an incessant impulse, to bring to full light a science which, so to speak, only existed in a latent state. It was only a few years ago that the phenomena were seriously observed[3]. In fact, Spiritism is a new science, which is gradually implanted in the minds of the masses, hoping to occupy an official position.
At first this science seemed very simple. To superficial creatures it was nothing more than the art of moving tables. A closer look, however, revealed that it was, in its ramifications and consequences, much more complex than had been imagined. Turntables are like Newton's apple, which in its fall ends the world system.

Kardec points out that, for each new discovery, multiple hypotheses arise, not necessarily wrong, as each one sees according to their conceptions and their knowledge and reasoning. Unity can only emerge in a science when it advances through the scientific method: if a hypothesis is shown to be incorrect by the evidence, it must be abandoned in favor of the truth.

On which side is the truth?

It's what fits to the future[4] to demonstrate. But the general trend could not waver. Evidently, a principle dominates and little by little unites the premature systems. A less exclusive observation will unite everyone to a common origin and soon we will see that the divergence will definitely be more accessory than fundamental.

The various spiritist theories have, therefore, two sources: some were born from the human brain; others were given by the Spirits. The first ones emanate from men who, trusting too much in their own lights, believe they have the key to what they are looking for, when more often than not they have only found a lockpick.fake key]. This is not surprising, but that, among the spirits, some said one thing and others said another, it was less conceivable. However, this is now perfectly explainable.

At first, there was an absolutely false idea of the nature of spirits. They were imagined as beings apart, of an exceptional nature, having nothing in common with matter and having to know everything. […] On the news of the recent manifestations, the first idea which generally came to the minds of most creatures was, that this was a means of penetrating all hidden things; a new mode of divination less subject to doubt than ordinary processes.

Remembering that Kardec analyzed with depth and attention all the manifestations and communications with which he had contact, from which he obtained the Spiritist Scale, from which a simple study that could save many from the difficulties they get into.

Based on a study carried out with a lot of rationality and common sense regarding the communications of the different Spirits, Kardec continues the long article giving simple examples of how Spirits of different orders and classifications express themselves. The whole contradiction arises from the failure to observe this fundamental point, in addition to the insistence on obtaining answers that cannot be given, to whose questions inferior spirits answer, without any scruples.

Kardec gives the example of the possibility that “one day” man will reach the Moon and, there, find its inhabitants: how could they know humanity through the reports of a few.

The causes of the contradictions in the language of spirits can therefore be summarized as follows:

1st. ─ The degree of ignorance or knowledge of the Spirits to whom we address;

2nd. ─ The deceit of inferior spirits who can, through malice, ignorance or malevolence, taking a borrowed name, say things contrary to those that were said elsewhere by the Spirit whose name they usurped;

3rd. ─ The medium's personal faults, which can influence communications and alter or deform the spirit's thinking;

4th. ─ The insistence on obtaining an answer that a spirit refuses to give, and that is given by an inferior spirit;

5th. ─ The Spirit's own will, which speaks according to time, place and people and may not think it convenient to say everything to everyone;

6th. ─ The insufficiency of human language to express the things of the incorporeal world;

7th ─ The interpretation that anyone can give to a word or an explanation, according to their ideas, their prejudices or the point of view from which they view the matter.

There are many difficulties, which can only be overcome through long and assiduous study. We also never said that Spiritist Science is easy. The serious observer, who delves into everything maturely, with patience and perseverance, apprehends a lot of delicate nuances that escape the superficial observer. It is through such intimate details that he initiates himself into the secrets of this science. Experience teaches us to know spirits, as it teaches us to know men.

---

1 – Since 1832, at the Sorbonne University, Paris, the school of rational spiritualism has established itself as official philosophy, structuring the human sciences, which in France are called moral sciences. Moral because the object of their study are the facts derived from human action; sciences such as history, law, philosophy, letters, among others. Differing from the natural sciences, which are dedicated to the phenomena of nature.

Among the moral sciences, there was the group of philosophical sciences, with the proposal to understand the human being, through the following disciplines, divided into two classes: psychological (psychology, logic, moral, aesthetics) and metaphysical (theodicy, rational psychology, rational cosmology). (FIGUEIREDO, 2019)

2 – Same as today. Only by the honest scientific method will these contradictions, which have been widely installed in the spiritist movement, be able to be dissipated.

3 – The confidence of nineteenth-century researchers in the power of science to describe reality led to the investigation, through the observation of mediumistic phenomena, of the modern spiritualism (the study of the works of Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo largely complement this theme). Many scholars and freethinkers, based on the observation of the turning, dancing and talking tables, began to consider the possibility of scientifically investigating the post-mortem survival of the human being. (PIMENTEL, 2014 – click to read).

Kardec has his first contact with Spiritism in 1854, when a friend of yours, the magnetizer Auguste Fortier reports that the “magnetic fluid” employed by a magnetizer was now causing the tables to move. Kardec receives the news with disinterest, as he supposed that the magnetic or electric fluid could explain the phenomenon.

Months later, Mr. Fortier sought him out again, this time to say that the tables didn't just move, but they responded intelligently to the questions of the assistants. Kardec, skeptical, still saw it as a “tale to make us sleep standing up”.

About a year later, in 1855, another friend, Mr. Carlotti, speaks for the first time of the intervention of the Spirits in the sessions. This friend's enthusiastic statement increased Kardec's distrust. It was after some time, in the same year, that Mr. Pâtier, an educated man, serious, calmly and coldly, convinced Rivail to attend a mediumistic session.

“Using his vast erudition, as a professor, writer and member of several scientific societies, he carried out a broad approach to the cause of psychic phenomena arising from the turning tables. Kardec proposed an empirical and rational approach to the subject, until then, considered metaphysical, in which several pertinent discussions were produced on epistemological and methodological aspects of exploration of mediumistic phenomena” (Ibid.)

4. Let's see Kardec's humility, which Never He said, “The truth is with me.”

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.