Advanced Study Group of Spiritism

EDITORIAL

 
We can read, study, and discuss the books of Kardec and books by other Spiritist authors until we have every word memorized, but are we applying this knowledge to change our inner selves?

If we are learning and using what we are reading, then each of us must do no wrong and, do as much good as we are able, each according to our capabilities. The aim of learning about the Spiritist Doctrine is moral self-improvement: in thought, word, and deed. This means we must act and change; we must apply what we learn. We may be able to fool those around us but we cannot fool God or our spirit guides regarding our intentions in these areas. As Spiritists, we cannot plead ignorance of spiritual laws upon our return to the spirit world.

Over 145 years ago, when Kardec was observing the phenomena of mediumship, and so-called psychic phenomena, it was very new and many people in the world had no idea regarding its most basic of spiritual concepts. Superstition abounded! Now, most people logically believe: that we each have a soul; in the existence of a spirit world; in the faculty of mediumship; and that the inhabitants in the material world can make contact with the inhabitants in the spirit world. What they DO NOT necessarily know about is the complex philosophical, psychological, moral, scientific, and religious ramifications behind these phenomena. And, they may not know about them unless we do our part to teach them; but not only through reading and study of the Doctrine, it will be more importantly taught through the application of its principles. We must not only instruct people’s minds but we must also touch their hearts!

 
Kardec came to earth for the mission of scientifically studying and codifying what can be called the basic knowledge of these natural spiritual laws. It is our mission now to apply them as best we can and instruct others in this application. We are all imperfect but, if our intentions are sincere and serious, we will be rewarded. Will we make mistakes? Of course, because we are mere mortals! But, to wait until the relative perfection of the human race to apply spiritual laws we already know about is ludicrous. We must have confidence in ourselves and in our spirit guides and above all, faith in the Creator. 

 
If we are mediums: we study, properly orientate ourselves, and use our faculty to help ourselves first, then others.

If we feel capable, we open Spiritist Centers to conduct study groups, healing sessions, and spirit communication sessions. We need to apply that knowledge we have, to assist and instruct all those in need of learning about “the whys and wherefores of Life.” We do not have to have college degrees or study Spiritism for many, many years in order to accomplish these activities; having basic Spiritist knowledge with sincere and serious intentions is a start… and through practical experience, and with the assistance of one’s spirit guides, one learns much by doing.

 
I can only speak about what is happening in the United States and I see many groups emerging wherein people seek communication with the spirit world. People watch  popular mediums on TV, go to their seminars, and make arrangements for private sittings with them at exorbitant fees; there are The Conversation with God groups (based on the popular books); there are many “development circles” being established through the avenues of Buddhism, American Indian lore, Wicca and pagan rites and rituals; there are the Spiritualist churches; The Science of the Mind groups; The Course in Miracles groups; and many, many other groups, some with quite a mixture of different beliefs. All are searching for spiritual truths by applying the laws of spirit science the only way they know, for the physical sciences have not answered their questions about the purpose of life and have left their soul feeling cold.

 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts, 2: 17 & 18)           

 Yvonne Limoges – Editor

GEAE

SPIRIT MESSAGES

CODIFICATION STUDY

• It permeates all of Creation and is the most primitive substance in the Cosmos. It has special properties of which we cannot understand or know at this time. 
• It is the intermediary between spirit and matter. 
• It is fluidic and is subject to innumerable combinations with matter, which together give it properties of which apart from it, it would not have. 
• In our present state of existence we can only feel and see some of the variations of the universal fluid, an example being electricity. 
• It is the vehicle upon which thoughts and feelings can be carried (examples: telepathy, telekinesis, and prayer). 
• It is the vehicle that allows for spirits to communicate between themselves in the spirit world and, allows them to communicate with humans, in the material world, and vice versa. 
• The universal fluid is also involved as a force in facilitating spiritual healing (the “laying on hands,” magnetic passes, and the like).  
• Those persons who have strong faith (and with the force of their will power and strong desire) when directed towards acts of goodness, unconsciously use the universal fluid to perform what many would call miracles but, are nothing more then the exercise of a natural phenomena.

• What Spiritism calls the vital principle (which allows things to become what we would call “alive” and have action and movement) originates from the universal fluid. The amount of vital principle in an organic being varies. This fluid can be transmitted from one individual to another through the force of a being’s will. Some may be more able to do this then others. Upon the physical death of an organic being, the vital fluid returns to its original source, the universal fluid. (Note: the vital principle is not the spirit, or soul.)

• A spirit is the intelligent principle of the Cosmos. It is “who we are.” It contains our intelligence, our will, and our personality. A spirit retains its individuality, whether in the material or spirit world.
• Spirits have no gender and do not procreate. Spirits incarnate into male and female bodies in the material world, depending on the type of incarnation that is necessary for the advancement of a particular spirit.
• A spirit’s original and true home is in the spirit world. This spirit world exists all around us although we are mostly unaware of it while we are in the material world.
• Time and space in the spirit world does not exist, as we know it in the material world.
• When the spirit returns to the spirit world (depending on its level of advancement) it can generally remember its past lives and all the knowledge it has gained in those past lives. There it can truly be itself at its full potential in intellect, spirituality, and morality; it is in a freer state of existence. While in a physical body, the spirit is like a prisoner until the moment of release, in what we humans call “death.”
• When a spirit incarnates into the material world it is subject to the various limitations of the body it may have; some physical limitations are more severe then others, examples are: mental retardation, blindness, deformities, and other physical, and, organic related mental and emotional conditions. 
• The spirit controls its physical body by way of what Spiritists calls the perispirit (see separate section on this) when it is incarnated in the material world. The spirit can either control its impulses, or indulge in the physical sensations it feels through the perispirit from its physical body.
• The spirit, when incarnated in a physical body, needs to reenergize itself, so that is why the physical body (which also needs rest) must sleep. That is also when the incarnated spirit comes into more direct contact with spirits in the spirit world. Sometimes spirits remember these visits as dreams. But most of the time the spirit does not remember its activities upon waking in the material world because the physical body’s matter is too dense for these impressions to come through.
• When the physical body sleeps, the spirit can visit all those friends and relatives it has known from other lives or those who have passed into it from their current one before them. It can visit with those loved ones who are still incarnated in the material world (but are physically asleep). It can visit with inferior or superior spirits. It can consult with its assigned “guardian angel” (a more superior spirit guide) regarding its trials and tribulations in the material world and more directly receive the advice it may need.
• Spirits are assigned a spirit protector during their sojourn into the material world; many times we call them guardian angels. These spirits who are superior to us having already evolved further, have accepted the mission of looking after us; they try and influence our thoughts and inspire in us to do and be good. They act as our conscience.
• A spirit’s condition in the spirit world, whether happy or unhappy, is the direct consequence of the degree of its advancement or its imperfections. Spirits receive and see what they need. Many need much rest from their trials and tribulations in the material world. Some may report they are in hospitals or rest homes. Others report they attend classes with others, learning many things regarding morality and improving their condition. Depending on the level of morality and intelligence, spirits receive special assignments. Difficult and very important assignments go to more superior spirits.
• Spirits in the spirit world exercise a tremendous influence over humans in the material world, for good and for bad. Spirits are one of the Forces of Nature of which conventional science does not yet realize and this is the primary knowledge of which Spiritism brings to the world in a logical and concise manner. When this fact becomes general knowledge it will provide clearer explanations of the processes of: inspiration, intuition, foreknowledge, spiritual healing, and certain types of mental and emotional disorders, and much more.
• Superior spirits, with their moral superiority, have authority over all those spirits inferior to them and strictly control those spirits in the spirit world and their influence upon those in the material world. They do this through a force of their will and can exercise what may be called a certain kind of  “mind control.” Superior spirits also influence those who are incarnated in the material world to assist mankind in its intellectual and moral progression. They sometimes incarnate into our world to inspire and guide mankind through special missions.
• It has been consistently communicated to us by the spirit world that the spirit of the person we know as Jesus of Nazareth, was and is, the most morally superior spirit to have incarnated upon the planet earth to date. His mission was to teach Love towards our Creator, Love to one another, and to bring us the knowledge of an afterlife. We call it the spirit world (He called it the “Kingdom of Heaven”). He emphasized that we should concentrate on spiritual matters over material ones (which are transitory). He is our model to strive for in our own moral conduct.
• Finally, the Creator’s Will is Supreme over all, whether upon the material or spirit world. The Supreme Intelligence has a continued influence upon the direction of the Cosmos (and as a result upon us) in harmony with universal laws.  We just cannot fully comprehend at our present level of evolutionary stage the influence of the Supreme Intelligence. But communicating spirits insist that it exists and nothing can occur without permission from the Divine Will.

With great sacrifice and blessed pleasure, I celebrated my first sacrifice of the mass! I was born for a religious life, harmonious and contemplative.

How pleasing it was for me to teach the faith to the little children! How delightful it was for me to hear their little voices, some out of tune, others shrieking, some so soft, but all so pleasing to me because they were as pure as their innocent souls.

Oh, the evenings! The evenings in my little village will always live in my memory! What tender and poetic moments they were for me, the times when upon leaving my beloved breviary, accompanied by my faithful dog Sultan, I went to the cemetery to pray before the cross of stone for the souls of the faithful that slept around me.

The children followed me at a distance and used to wait for me by the door of the house of the dead. When I finished my prayers I left that mansion of truth and remembering the divine words of Jesus, I said, "Come to me, little children." Immediately they surrounded me, all of them yelling, and playing, encircling me affectionately and asking me to tell them stories; sitting by an old and venerable olive tree, with Sultan at my feet, the children played with his ears while my faithful companion suffered with resignation, their juvenile display of affection.

Letting them do what they wanted, I was very happy to be surrounded by those innocent creatures, who looked at me with genuine admiration. They said to each other; “ Let's play dead with Sultan, Father will not admonish us.” My poor dog let them drag him by his tail, while playing dead. When they finished playing, as a treat, they gave him part of the food they had with them.  After a while order was again established, everything became calm, and then they sat around me, listening attentively, to the many stories of miracles I told them.

Sultan was the first to signal when it was time to go back to the village, by standing and barking, getting the attention of the children. Then, with much dancing and jumping, we all returned to our quiet homes. This is the way I passed many days, many months of peace and love, ignoring that there were criminals in the world. After a while, Father John died and I inherited his parish, with it came new obligations which disturbed the dreams of my nights and the tranquility of my days.

It had always bothered me, without knowing why, to hear the sins of others in confession.  I found that it was too heavy a load to guard the secrets of others. My soul being openhearted and reflective, was tormented by the weight of the sins of others.  But, Father John's demise, obliged me to sit in the tribunal of penance, or better said, "The tribunal of human conscience." Then life horrified me. How many sad stories! How many disenchantments! How many crimes! How many iniquities!

One night, one which I'll never forget, while preparing to go to sleep, all of a sudden Sultan anxiously got up, looking at me intently, he got up on the arms of my chair and looked at me, as if saying, “Do not go to bed, someone is coming.” About five minutes later, I heard the sound of the hoofs of a horse at a gallop. A few moments later, my old companion Miguel, the caretaker, came to me saying that a man wanted to speak to me.

I went outside with Sultan who smelled the man and then sat down defensively by my feet. It seems like I still see my visitor. He was a man of medium age, with a sad and somber look.  He looked at me and said, “Father, are we alone?”

“Yes, what do you want?”, I asked.

“I want you to hear my confession, Father.”

“Why do you come looking for me, when you have God ?”,  I asked.

“God is too far away and I need to hear a voice that is closer”, he said.

“Does not your conscience tell you something?”, I then asked.

“It is because I listen to it, that I come to you. I see they have not lied when they said that you are an enemy of confession”, the man said.

“It is true, the horrors of people’s lives I find oppressive. I only like to hear the confessions of children because their sins make the angels smile.”

 “Father, listen to me, because it's charitable to give advice to those that ask for it.”

“Talk,” I said, “And may God inspire both of us.”

“Pay close attention,” he said. ”A few months ago among the tombs of the cemetery in the city of............,  they found the body of a man with his skull crushed.  They tried to find the assassin, but it had been in vain. Until finally, a man showed up at the tribunal of justice [police headquarters] and declared that he was the one who had killed the man found dead at the cemetery. I’m the judge for this case, the law condemns him to execution since he confessed, and I cannot condemn him.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“Because he is innocent.”

“How, if he is confessing?”

“Because I swear to you that he is not the murderer.”

“How can you state that?”

“Because the slayer of that man was me.”

“You?”

“Yes, Father, me. It’s a long story and very sad. The only thing that I will tell you is that I took vengeance into my own hands and on my secret lies the honor of my children. But, my conscience will not let me sign the death sentence for a man who I know he is not guilty.”

 “Is the confessor suffering from some mental disorder?”, I asked.

“No, he's perfectly sane. I tried to declare him insane, but medical science proved otherwise.”

“Then do not feel remorse because regret of another crime has likely made him confess to this one. No one gives his life to justice, without having been an assassin himself. Go peacefully, and fulfill human justice because the remorse of that poor individual has made him see, that Divine law has to be fulfilled. I promise that I'll talk with that poor person, and, to make you feel better, I'll divulge to you what he tells me. Regarding yourself, do not forget the Fifth Commandment of the Law of God, ‘Thou shall not kill’", I said.

My presentiments were not wrong. A few days later, I talked with the prisoner in his last moments. I said to him, “Speak, God is listening.”

Then, full of tears he told me the following, “Father, how sad is the life of a criminal. It has been ten years since I killed a poor young woman, and her shadow has always followed me.  I still see her, here between us both! I got married to see if by being with someone, and not alone, I would lose that horror which was slowly killing me. But, whenever I went to caress my wife, the sight of that woman would come between us, her face blurring the face of my wife. When we had our first child, it was not my wife holding the baby, but she who held him.  I traveled, I plunged into all manner of vices, and have spent days and days in church. But, wherever I went there she was, even in church, where her face took the faces of the saints, always her. I do not know why I've not had the courage to kill myself? So, when I heard that they had not found out who had killed that man at the cemetery, I gave thanks to God, so that I could say that I had killed him and take the blame. This way I could die, by accusing myself of that crime.”

“Why have you not confessed your crime before this?”

“Because there was not enough proof that was convincing. I had covered up the murder in such a way that, there were no clues left.  But men do not see what I see! She is here, and she looks at me with anger.  Do you not see her, Father?  I wish to die so that I will not see her!”

On the day of the execution, on stepping up to the gallows, the prisoner told me, “In place of the hangman, I see her. Father, ask God that I will not see her after death, if it is true that the dead see into eternity.” Then they hanged him.

To allay the fears of the murdering judge I told him what that other Cain had said  [the condemned man]. When I finished, he sadly said, “Father, of what worth is human justice compared to Divine Justice?  The death of that man is avenged before society and he will rest in eternity, but me? Father, when will I rest?”

A year later, the judge entered an insane asylum, never to come out again. And I, who have been made the depository of so many secrets, the unwilling judge of the morals of so many criminals, and the confidante of so many inequities,  live depressed by the weight of human frailties.

Oh, where are the quiet afternoons of my parish? No longer do my prayers resound at the feet of the cross of stone. Where are those children that played with Sultan?  One had died, the others are now full grown, now all men. Perhaps some may be criminals. They say that I'm so good, which I am not. And many sinners come to tell me their misfortunes and I have come to realize that remorse is the only hell of mankind.

Dear God, inspire me! Guide me towards the path of goodness, and since I get despondent over hearing the sins of others, may I not lose my sense of reason, by always remembering those sins of my own. Because, where in this world would you find a person without regrets?