| Year 14 | Number 71 | 2006 | February 15th, 2006 |
| "Unshakable faith is only that which
can face reason face to
face in every Humankind epoch." Allan Kardec |
| "Hungry not
only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but
naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a
room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection." Mother
Teresa
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| ° EDITORIAL
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| Let
us Change our World for the Better |
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| ° ARTICLES
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| Pain is Merited,
Anguish Justified |
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| ° THE CODIFICATION
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| Penetration
of Our Thoughts By Spirits |
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| ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS
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| Life
and Destiny - PART 1st, CHAPTER II:
The Criterion of the Spiritist Doctrine |
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| ° SPIRIT
MESSAGES
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| What about Your Children? | |||
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| The Spiritist View of
Mental Disorders |
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| Dr. Bezerra de Menezes: The Poor Man's Doctor | |||
| From Grief to Hope | |||
| American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena - 2006 Conference | |||
| Parafest 2006 - Paranormal, Spiritual and Psychic Awareness Festival UK | |||
| ° EDITORIAL |
Let us Change our World for the Better
Dear Readers,
We know that the purpose of our life is to grow in knowledge and goodness. We know that we must dedicate all our will power in learning from every little thing that happens to us and to do our best to keep well balanced. We also must try to treat our brothers and sisters with respect and with love in our hearts. We know that we and no one else are the architects of our own destiny.
As Spiritists, considering that we know the true purpose of material life, it is our duty to help others by spreading this knowledge whenever we have a chance to do it. In addition, if we live according to what we know, our good example will make other people more trusting of what we say, and little by little, we will be doing our part in assisting humanity to morally and spiritually evolve.
If we think that a single person can't do much, all we have to do is remember how much has been accomplished, in so short a time, by the many great souls who have been born on this planet throughout history. Even so, if we still feel as if we are incapable, we must remember that if each one of us does his/her little part the whole world will eventually change. It is our responsibility to act!
Let us have faith, and believe in our capacity to change the world for the better. We can do it!
Much peace
The GEAE Editors
| ° ARTICLES |
Jim
Pursley
"...Our present
sufferings are sometimes independent of us.
But just as ofen they are the consequence of our own free will..." (The Spirits' Book q.257)
But just as ofen they are the consequence of our own free will..." (The Spirits' Book q.257)
What would you say if you were given this topic at a Toastmasters meeting? Sure, we reap what we sow, we’ve all heard that – but how does the system really work. What is the mechanism by which we earn those little brownie points of pain, suffering, grief, anguish and regret? Furthermore, what do we do about it, and how do we conduct ourselves so as to gain the most from the experience?
Gain from pain, you ask? How can that be. Let’s back up to explain the Spiritist view of existence. Spiritists believe that all of us – indeed all spirits – were created in an ignorant, unknowing and malleable state and that knowledge and perfection is gained through the demonstration of love, faith, hope and above all, charity in the caring for others. Pain and suffering are the expiations, if you will, for lives spent in opposition to love, mercy, generosity, charity and other attributes of the Divine. Viewed in this way, then, pain is merited, anguish justified.
Most of us are not highly developed spirits, knowing themselves fully and understanding the experiences they are having. We are most often left with huge question marks when trying to understand the reason of a particular situation. Frankly, it is practically useless to ask why; instead, one finds more fruitful understanding in questions such as “How can I benefit from this situation”, “How can my situation benefit others”, “How can I bear this situation with dignity, surrender and abnegation” and “What must I do, think, believe, think or say to get me through this situation in the best possible way for all concerned”? In the foregoing little questions is the stuff of overcoming tragedy and stepping into the advancing spirit you really are.
Bearing an uncomfortable situation with a sense of resignation will help you turn focus away from feeling sorry for yourself and on finding the lessons inherent in every circumstance. Just think, how much learning can you get from a really fun time? zip, nada (nothing)…you just get satiated with pleasure and, it could be argued, get softand less motivated to do the hard work. Yogananda said “An easy life is not a victorious life.” The wisdom in these words is quite apparent – it is in the struggle to improve that we can become victorious over the part of ourselves that may be grounded in less than highly spiritual and intellectual activities. Victory goes to the “lucky and the strong”? No – it goes to thosewho persist, who “keep on keeping on” and NEVER GIVE UP.
It is enough to accept that pain is merited, anguish justified – and move on. The Law of God is quite just – you may not remember what infraction of the law you may have committed, but suffice it that you expiate and cleanse yourself of the residue and effect of those wrongful actions, words, thoughts or a combination of them. Interestingly, the last step in moving through a sorrowful experience is the acceptance of it, so that all of your energy can be directed to moving forward. Fortunately, Spiritism also teaches that more advanced spirits are characterized by a greater sense of inner happiness. Do all of the things to promote inner happiness – prayer, meditation, acting charitably and more of the same – and you may find yourself happy as a pig in mud and quite unaware of the pain and suffering. Try it.
Article
reproduced from SpiritistNews,
Volume
4, Issue 1,
Jan/February 2006 , the newsletter of The
Spiritist
Society of Baltimore
| ° THE CODIFICATION |
THE
SPIRITS' BOOK
CHAPTER IX
INTERVENTION OF SPIRITS IN THE CORPOREAL WORLD
1. Penetration of Our Thoughts By Spirits
CHAPTER IX
INTERVENTION OF SPIRITS IN THE CORPOREAL WORLD
1. Penetration of Our Thoughts By Spirits
456. Do spirits see everything that we do?
"They can do so if they choose, since they are incessantly around you. But, practically, each spirit sees only those things to which he directs his attention; for he pays no heed to those which do not interest him."
457. Can spirits see our most secret thoughts?
"They often see what you would fain hide from yourselves; neither acts nor thoughts can be hidden from them."
- It would appear, then, to be more easy to hide a thing from a person while living than to
hide it from that same person after his death?
"Certainly; and when you fancy yourselves to be hidden from every eye, you have often a crowd of spirits around you, and watching you."
458. What is thought of us by the spirits who are about us, and observing us?
"That depends on the quality of the spirits themselves. Frivolous spirits enjoy the little annoyances they cause you, and laugh at your fits of impatience. Graver spirits pity your imperfections, and endeavour to aid you to cure yourselves of them."
| ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS |
LIFE AND DESTINY
BY
LEON DENIS
AUTHOR OF ‘APRÈS LA MORT,’ ‘JEANNE D’ARC-MÉDIUM’
‘CHRISTIANISME ET SPIRITISME,’ ‘DANS L’INVISIBLE’
‘LA GRANDE ÉNIGME,’ ‘POURQUOI LA VIE?’
‘L’AU-DELÀ ET LA SURVIVANCE DE L’ÉTRE’
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
LONDON GAY & HANCOCK LTD.
1919
This book is out of print indefinitely.
1st Electronic Edition by
the Spiritist
Group of New York
(SGNY)
and the Advanced
Study Group of Spiritism
(GEAE)
2002
PART
FIRST
THE
PROBLEM OF LIFE
CHAPTER
II
THE
CRITERION OF THE
SPIRITIST DOCTRINE4
It was through these phenomena that the Spirits6 diffused their teachings throughout the world. As we will see, these teachings were confirmed by experience, on many points.
The new spiritualism, then, is directed both to the senses and the intelligence. It is experimental, when
it studies the phenomena that serve as its basis; it is rational, when it verifies the teachings derived from them and constitutes a powerful instrument for the inquiry of the truth, as it can be employed simultaneously in all dominions of knowledge.
The Spirits’ revelations, as we have said, are confirmed by experience. Since 18507 the Spirits taught
us theoretically and demonstrated in practices the existence of imponderable forces that Science till then rejected “a priori.” The Spirits refer to these forces as fluids. Later on Mr. W. Crooks, who amongst the intellectuals enjoyed great authority, was the first to verify the reality of these forces. Present day Science is gradually starting to recognize the importance and the variety of these forces, thanks to the celebrated discoveries of Roentgen, Hertz, Becquerel, Curie, G. Le Bon, and others.
The Spirits affirmed and demonstrated the possible action of one soul over another, from any distance
and without the benefit of the physical organs. Notwithstanding, that order of facts has raised opposition and incredulity.
Nevertheless, the phenomena observed and widely performed today of telepathy, mental suggestion,
and transmission of thoughts came by the thousands to confirm these revelations.
The Spirits taught us about the preexistence, the survival, and the successive lives of the soul. The
experiences of F. Colavida, E. Marata, and the ones from Colonel de Rochas, mine, etc., establish that not only the memory of the smallest peculiarities of the current life, regressing far back to the most tender moments of childhood, but also remembrances of past lives are recorded in the inner recesses of our consciences. An entire past, which is protected in a vigilant state, resurfaces and comes to life during a trance state. This recollection can effectively be reconstituted in a certain number of sleeping patients, as we will establish later on, when we deal especially with that question.8
You see that modern Spiritualism cannot be considered purely as a metaphysical conception, as an
example of the ancient spiritualistic doctrines. Rather, it presents a distinct character that suits the
requirements of a generation educated in the schools of criticism and rationalism, and that was once rendered skeptical by the exaggerations of the morbid and agonizing mysticism.
Today it is not enough just to believe; one wants to understand. No philosophical or moral conception
has a probability of triumph if it does not have for its basis a demonstration that is at the same time logical, mathematical, and positive, in addition to being crowned by a sanction that satisfies all our instincts of justice.
“If a mathematician wanted to write about philosophy and morals using mathematical formulas, he
could without obstacle do it.” Said Leibniz.
However, adds Leibniz: “It has rarely been tried, and much less with good results.”
It should be observed that these conditions were perfectly accomplished by Allan Kardec in his magisterial exposition made in “The Spirits’ Book.”
That book is the result of an immense work of classification, coordination and elimination that had for its basis millions of communications and messages obtained from different origins, each one unknown to the others. These messages were obtained from all points of the world and assembled together by the eminent compiler, after establishing their authenticity. He was careful to set aside any isolated opinions, and suspect testimonies, keeping only the points where the statements were in agreement.
There is still much to be added before this work is complete. Despite the death of its brilliant initiator,
this work has not suffered interruption. In fact, we already possess a powerful summary whose main lines were drawn by Kardec himself. Now, the heirs of his thoughts in conjunction with the invisible world are making an effort to further develop it. Each one brings his grain of sand for the common establishment of this edifice, whose fundamentals scientific experimentation renders more solid every day, and whose adornments will enable it to rise taller day by day.
For thirty uninterrupted years I myself received teachings from spiritual guides, who relentlessly provided their assistances and advices. Their revelations proceeded to take on a particularly didactic character during the sessions that lasted eight years, and of which I wrote about in a prior work9.
In Allan Kardec’s book, the teachings of the spirits are accompanied, on each question, with a consideration, commentary, and clarification. His style makes clear the beauty of its principles and the
harmony of its whole. It is there that the qualities of the author become evident. First, he cleverly provides a clear and precise meaning of the expressions he often employed in his philosophical argumentation. Then, he proceeds to clarify the terms whose meanings could be interpreted in different ways. He knew that the confusion that arises in most philosophical systems is the result of a lack of clarity of expressions used by the authors.
Another rule of equal importance used throughout the entire methodic exposition, and one that Allan
Kardec meticulously observed is that which consists of circumscribing the ideas, and presenting them in a way that enables the readers to better understand them. Next, he developed those ideas in an orderly fashion and correlated them so as to promote their interconnection. Finally, he knew how to draw conclusions that already represent a reality and a certainty within the rational order, and in accordance with human conceptions.
For the above reasons and for the purpose of safety, we propose to adopt the terms, the views, and the
methods observed by Allan Kardec for this book. We have added to our work all developments resulting from the investigation and experiences that took place during the fifty-year period since the appearance of his works.
In view of the above validation, we see that the Doctrine of the Spirits (of which Kardec was the
interpreter and judicious compiler), similarly to the most appreciated philosophical systems, encompasses the essential qualities of clarity, logic and rigor. Unlike any other system, however, the Spiritist Doctrine offers its vital set of manifestations, through which it first affirmed itself in the world. Since its establishment the Spiritist Doctrine has continuously withstood all kinds of examinations. It addresses people of all social classes and conditions; it speaks not only to their senses and intellects, but especially to their best possessions - reason and conscience.
Do not these
inner potencies, in their union, constitute a criterion of
good and evil, truth and falsehood, more
or less clear or concealed, evidently in accordance
with the advancement of the soul? Further, don’t
we find that each of these is a reflection of the
Eternal Reason from which they emanate? 10
There are two aspects to the Spiritist Doctrine. One aspect shows a revelation from the spiritual world;
the other shows a human discovery. With the first we have teachings that are universal, extra terrestrial and
identical both in its essential parts and in its general sense. The latter shows that a personal and human
confirmation continues to be made according to the rules of logic, experience and reason. The conviction
emerging from these two aspects is reinforced and becomes progressively more rigorous in direct proportion to the increase in the number of communications received, thus multiplying and expanding the means for its verification.
Until now we were only acquainted with individual systems, that is, private revelations; but today, thousands of voices coming from the deceased make themselves heard. The invisible world is coming into action, and among its agents, we find eminent Spirits allowing themselves to be recognized only through the strength and the beauty of their teachings. The great geniuses of Space, moved by a divine impulse, come to guide our thoughts to radiant summits11.
Isn’t this a vast and grandiose manifestation of Providence, never equaled in the past? The difference
of the means can only be compared to that of the results; let us compare.
The personal revelation is fallible. All human philosophical systems, all individual theories, whether they come from Aristoteles, Tomas of Aquino, Kant, Descartes, Spinoza or from our contemporaries are
unavoidably influenced by the opinions, tendencies, prejudices, and sentiments of their revealers. They also
suffer influences regarding the conditions of time and place in which they are produced. Incidentally, the same can be said of religious doctrines.
The Spirits’ revelation, however, being impersonal and universal, escapes the majority of these influences, while supplying a greater number of probabilities, if not certainties. It cannot be suppressed or tarnished. No man, no nation, no church has privilege over it. It challenges all inquisitions and produces itself wherever one may least expect. The power of its manifestations has converted the most hostile oppositions, illuminating them with the new ideas. These men, when moved deep within their souls by the supplications and exhortations from their deceased relatives, spontaneously made themselves active instruments of its publicity.
Phenomena analogous to that, which happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus do no lack in
Spiritism, and have caused many to convert.
The Spirits have incited a great deal of mediums from all walks of life, from the bosom of all social classes, from among the most diverse factions, and even from the depths of sanctuaries. Clergymen have received instructions and propagated them either openly or under the veil of anonymity. 12
Together, their deceased relatives and friends carried on the dual roles of teachers and revealers, adding formal and irrefutable proofs of identity to their teachings.
It was through such an approach that in fifty years Spiritism was able to stake its claim throughout the
world and to convey its enlightenment. There is a majestic accord in all these voices that have simultaneously arisen to compel our incredulous societies to hear the Glad Tidings of the survival of the soul, and to solve the problems of death and pain. The revelations brought forth by means of mediumship have penetrated the hearts of families, reaching deep down into the atriums and social infernos. Did not the prisoners of Tarragona Prison address, as it is well known, the International Spiritist Congress of Barcelona in 1888, a moving adhesion in favor of a doctrine that, as they said, had converted them to goodness and reconciled them with their duties?13
The multiplicity of teaching sources and diffusion methods of the Spiritist Doctrine constitute a permanent contrast, which frustrates and renders sterile all oppositions and intrigues. Due to its own nature, the revelations of the Spirits escape all monopolization and falsification efforts. All attempts of domination or
dissidence are powerless against it, for if they succeeded in extinguishing or corrupting it in one point, it would immediately re-emerge in a hundred other diverse points, thus rendering ineffective any harmful and
treacherous ambitions.
Within this immense movement of revelation, the souls declare that they obey orders derived from
Above. Their actions are regulated in accordance with a plan designed in advance, and which progresses with majestic amplitude. From the bosom of space an invisible council presides over its execution. It is composed of great Spirits from all races and religions. These enlightened and wholesome souls once lived in this world in accordance with the laws of love and sacrifice. These charitable potencies hover between heaven and earth, uniting the two through a trace of light through which prayers and inspirations continuously arise and descend.
Concerning the concordance of spiritual teachings, there is a fact - an exception - that most impressed
certain detractors, and which they have held as a capital argument against Spiritism.
Why did the Spirits announce to most Latin countries the law of successive lives and the soul’s reincarnation on earth, while they either denied or bypassed them all together in Anglo-Saxon countries? They question how one can explain such a flagrant contradiction?
Isn’t this enough reason to destroy the unity of doctrine that characterizes the New Revelation?
Let us mention that there is no contradiction, but simply a dissemination approach developed because
of prejudice inherited in the caste systems, races and religions that are deeply embedded in certain countries.
Since its beginning, the Spirits’ teachings were more complete and extensive in the Latin centers. For
reasons of opportunity, however, its start was restricted and gradual in other regions. It is verified that the
number of spiritist communications affirming the principle of successive reincarnations have increased daily both in England and in America - many of them even offering precious arguments to the debates taking place among spiritualist of different schools.
In fact, the idea of reincarnation has spread beyond the Atlantic in such a way that one of the main American spiritualistic organizations14, is today fully favorable to it. The “Light” of London that until recently
pushed away this issue, is today discussing it with impartiality. It seems that the shadows and contractions existent in the beginning were only apparent and offered almost no resistance to a serious exam15.
Let us consider some of them. Firstly, we are accused of taking great satisfaction in philosophizing. We are also accused of having edified - on the basis of phenomena - an anticipated system, a premature doctrine, and having therefore jeopardized the positive character of modern Spiritualism.
A commendable writer, serving as interpreter for a certain number of psychics summarized his critique in these terms: “A serious objection against the spiritist hypothesis is the “philosophy” that certain hasty men have bestowed upon Spiritism. Spiritism which should only have been a science in its beginning, is already an immense philosophy for which the Universe has no secrets.”
We remind the above author that the men he speaks of simply represented the roles of intermediaries,
limiting themselves to coordinating and publishing the teachings received through mediumship.
On the other hand, we should notice that there will always be indifferent, agnostic and tardy spirits
ready to think we advance too fast. There would not be any possible progress, if we had to wait for latecomers.
It is truly amusing to see people - whose interest for this subject dates back only to yesterday - trying to offer
guidelines to men of the likes of Allan Kardec who dared to publish his works only after years of laborious
investigations and mature reflections, hence complying with formal orders and drinking from fountains of
information that our excellent critics can hardly imagine.
All those who devotedly follow the development of psychic studies, can verify that the results acquired from such a work came to confirm and to further strengthen all the points of Kardec’s work.
Charles Richet tells us that the eminent professor at Cambridge, Frederich Myers (who was for twenty
years the soul of the “Society for Psychical Researches,” of London, and who was subsequently promoted in 1900 to honorary president of the official International Congress of Psychology of Paris) makes the following declaration in the last pages of his magisterial work, La Personnalité Humaine, sa Survivance - a publication that produced a profound sensation in the intellectual world: “For all enlightened and conscious researcher these inquiries will provide place, logic, and obviously a vast philosophic and religious synthesis.” Focusing on this information, he devotes the tenth chapter of that work to a “generalization or conclusion that establishes a more obvious connection between these new discoveries and the scheme of thoughts and beliefs already existent of the civilized man.” 16
The exposition of his work ends as follows:
“Bacon had predicted the progressive victory of observation and experience in all fields of human studies; in all except one: the control over “divine things.” I am determined to show that this great exception is not justified. I insist there is a method to obtain the knowledge of divine things with the same certainty and safety with which we have reached the progress that we possess in the knowledge of terrestrial things. The authority of the church will, therefore, be substituted by that of observation and experience. The impulses of faith will be transformed into rational and firm convictions, giving rise to a superior ideal well above all that Humanity has known thus far.”
Consequently, what some critics of little sagacity consider as a premature endeavor appears to F. Myers as “a necessary and unavoidable evolution.” The philosophical synopsis that concludes his work received the highest support in scientific circles. Sir. Oliver Lodge, the English academic declares: “it constitutes one of the most extensive, comprehensible and well founded proposals concerning existence, that has been seen.” 17
Prof. Flournoy of Geneva gives it his highest praise in his “Archives of Psychologie de la Suisse Romande” (June 1903).
In France, other men of the scientific field, though unrelated with Spiritism, comes to similar conclusions.
Mr. Maxwell, a medical doctor and the substitute Attorney General at the Court of Appeals of Paris
verbalized it as follows18:
“Spiritism arrives at its own time and corresponds to a general need… The expansion this doctrine is
taking is one of the most curious phenomena of the current epoch. We watch what seems to me to be the birth of a true religion, without ritual ceremonies and without the clergy, but with assemblies and practices. Regarding myself, I find extreme interest in these meetings and have the impression of observing the birth of a religious movement predestined to a great future.”
In view of these appreciations, our challengers’ arguments and recriminations come to a halt. What,
then, should we attribute their aversion to the Spiritist Doctrine? Could it be due to the fact that the spiritist
teachings – with its laws of responsibilities, its linkage of cause and effect developed in the moral dominium, and its sanctioning through the examples they bring to us – cause a terrible embarrassment for a great number of people who pays little importance to philosophy?
Speaking on psychic facts, F. Myers says19: “these observations, experiences and inductions open the
door to a revelation.” It is evident that the day relationship with the Spirit world was established by the natural force of events, the problem of the being and its destiny - with all its consequences and with new aspects - was also immediately raised.
Say what they may, it was not possible to communicate with deceased relatives and friends and avoid
concerning ourselves with their way of existence, or without taking an interest in their views, forcibly
expanded and different from those they possessed while on Earth - at least for the souls already developed.
No time in History could mankind withdraw from the great problems of being, life, death, and pain. Despite man’s inability to solve these problems, they have continuously worried him - returning with more determination each time he tried to push them away - infiltrating themselves in all events of his life, lodging
deep into the recesses of his mind, knocking so to speak at his conscience’s door. How could he be indifferent to a new source of teachings, consolation and moral force? How could he ignore the vast horizon that opened to his thoughts? Isn’t it pertaining to both, our relatives and us? Isn’t it our future destiny and our tomorrow’s fate that is in question?
Why! The torment, the anguish resulting from the unknown that has afflicted the soul through the times; the confusing intuition of a better, forefelt and desired world. The anxious search for God and his justice can be - in a new and more expansive approach - appeased, clarified, and satisfied. Could we ignore the pathway to accomplish that? Isn’t the desire and need of our minds to inquire into that great mystery one of the most beautiful privileges of the human being? Isn’t that what constitutes the dignity, the beauty, and the reason for being in one’s life?
Have we not seen that every time we have ignored this right, this privilege; every time we have momentarily renounced to turn our sights to the Beyond and to direct our thoughts towards a more elevated life; or else when we have sought to restrict that horizon, have we not seen, concurrently, the moral miseries
aggravated, the weight of existence befalling heavier on the shoulders of the miserable, desperation and
suicide increasing its area of devastation and societies retreating back towards decadence and anarchy?
There is still another kind of objection: the spiritist philosophy, they say, has no consistency; the communications upon which it is based originate most often from the mediums, from their own subconscious mind, or else from the audience’s spirits. The medium in trance “reads from the consultees’ spirits the doctrine accumulated therein, and that these eclectic doctrines are drawn from philosophies from all over the world, but mostly from Hinduism.”
Did the author of these lines reflect thoroughly upon the difficulties that such a task could bring? Would he be able to explain the process by which one could, at first sight, read the accumulated doctrines in a person’s mind? If this is possible, then do it! As it stands, we have basis to see in his allegations nothing more than words employed deceitfully and at the work of a passionate critic. Those who do not want to seem mistaken with their sentiments are often cheated by their words. The systematic disbelief on a point, at times, turns into naive credulity on another20.
Before proceeding we remind you that the opinions of the majority of the mediums, at the beginning
of the manifestations, were entirely opposite to those enunciated in their communications. Nearly all the
mediums had received a religious education and were imbued with ideas of a paradise and an inferno. Their ideas concerning the future life, whenever they had them, differed significantly from those exposed by the Spirits. The ideas of heaven and hell are still most frequently the case today. In fact, that was the case of three mediums from our group, all practicing catholic women, who despite the philosophical teachings they received and transmitted, never fully renounced their cultural habits.21
As for the audience, listeners, or people considered as “consultees,” let us recall that at the dawn of Spiritism in France - that is, in Allan Kardec’s time - the men and women who possessed notions of oriental or druidic philosophy acknowledging the theory of transmigration or the successive lives of the soul, were a very small number. Information on the subject was not readily available; it was necessary to seek them in the bosom of the academies or in some secluded scientific centers.
We ask our challengers how could it be possible for such a vast number of mediums spread throughout
the whole earth, working independently and being strangers to each other, by themselves alone constitute the basis of a doctrine with sufficient strength to resist all attacks and criticisms. A doctrine so exact, that its
principles would be validated time and again by the daily receipt of confirming experiences, as described at the beginning of this chapter.
Regarding the sincerity of the mediumistic communications and their philosophical achievement, we are going to cite the words of an orator, whose opinions will not seem suspect, knowing the aversion most
ecclesiastics have concerning Spiritism.
During a sermon given on April 7, 1899, in New York, Reverend J. Savage, a well-known preacher
said:
“The supposed nonsense said to come from the other world makes up a legion. Along with it, however, there exists one of the most pure and complete moral literature - of incomparable spiritualistic teachings. I know of a book whose author is a graduate from Oxford and also a minister of the English Church. That book was written through automatic writing. At times, in order to deviate his thoughts from the work his hand executed, the author read Plato in Greek. In contrast to what is commonly admitted for that kind of work, that book was in absolute opposition to the author’s religious beliefs. (This author and medium converted into Spiritism, before concluding the book.22) That work contains moral and spiritual teachings worthy of any of the Bibles that are in existence throughout the world.”
The first periods of Christianity were composed of people who were looked down upon and deemed
unworthy of any attention by those of the established society. One should read Saint Paul’s story to recall it.
Modern Spiritualism was launched on similar circumstances; only, in the shadow of its banner, we find many of today’s honored names, followed by the best and most enlightened men. Observe then, that in general, it is a great and most sincere movement.” 23
In his speech, reverend Savage knew to give each thing its proper place. It is certain that not all
mediumistic communications offer the same degree of interest. Many of them are simply composed of
foolishness, repetitions and trivialities. Not all Spirits have the capability of transmitting useful and profound
teachings. As it happens on earth, but even more meticulously in space, the scale of beings holds an infinite number of degrees. In that scale we find the noblest intelligences, as well as the most vulgar souls. At times, however, even the inferior Spirits, by describing their moral situations, their impressions at the moment of death and their situations in the Beyond - thus initiating us in the particulars of their new existences - furnish us with precious material to determine the conditions of survival of the diverse categories of Spirits.
Thus, from our relationship with the Invisibles, we can cultivate elements for our own education, though not all should be taken into consideration. The cautious and astute experimenters must know how to separate the glitter from the gold. The truth does not always reach us in its purest state. Interaction with those from the Above provides man with an ample field for the exercising of his faculties and reasoning abilities.
It is necessary to act with the utmost caution, be attentive and apply continuous examination to all24. In
addition, we have to guard against conscious or unconscious frauds, while ascertaining that the written
messages are not a mere case of animism. In order to accomplish this it is critical to verify if the
communications are superior to the medium’s capabilities, by analyzing the form and depth of the messages. It is necessary to request proofs of identity from the manifesting spirits, and not to relinquish the severest control - except in cases in which the teachings make an impression, because the superior nature and exceptional amplitude of the messages are well above the faculties of the transmitter.
Once the authenticity of the communications is established, it is necessary to compare them among
themselves and submit the scientific and philosophical principles they express to a severe examination; only the points where a near unanimity of viewpoint is established are accepted.
In addition to frauds of a human origin, there are also the mystifications of an occult origin. All serious
experimenters know there are two kinds of Spiritism. One that is practiced negligently, without method or
thought elevation, which attracts to us the fools from space, the frivolous and mocking Spirits. These kinds of spirits are numerous in the terrestrial atmosphere. The other kind of Spiritism, which has a greater
circumscription, is practiced with sobriety and a respectful sentiment. It places us in contact with the advanced Spirits, who are always eager to help and to enlighten those who call upon them with a heartfelt fervor. Religions have known and designated this kind of Spiritism as the communication of the saints.
It is often asked how is it possible to distinguish from the vast number of communications, whose authors are invisible, those that originate from superior entities and should be retained. There is only one answer to this question. How do we distinguish good and bad books from authors deceased a long time ago? How should a noble and elevated language be distinguished from one that is dull and vulgar? Do we not have a standard, a rule to appraise the thoughts - whether they come from our world or the other? Mediumistic messages are judged primarily by their moralistic effects. Countless times, these messages have improved many wicked traits and purified many consciences. That is the safest criterion of all philosophical teaching.
There are several ways to recognize and distinguish the good Spirits from the primitive souls, in our
relationship with the Invisibles. The sensitive (medium) easily recognizes the nature of the fluids, which are
subtle and agreeable with the good Spirits; these fluids are violent, glacial and difficult to withstand when
dealing with the bad Spirits. One of our mediums always announced in advance the arrival of a “Blue Spirit,” whose presence was revealed by harmonious vibrations and brilliant radiation.
Other Spirits are recognizable to certain mediums by their smell. In one case the smell is of a delicate
and suave fragrance;25 in another it is repugnant. A Spirit’s elevation is evaluated by the purity of its fluids,
the beauty of its form, and by its language.
With these kinds of investigations, the one thing that most intrigues, persuades and convinces us, are
the conversations held with our relatives and friends that preceded us to the spiritual life. When incontestable proofs of identity give us the certainty of their presence; when the intimacy of the past, trust and friendship is again established among us, the revelations obtained under such conditions take on a most persuasive character.
Upon these proofs of identity, the last hesitations of skepticism forcibly dissipate, giving way to the
impulses of the heart.
Is it possible, in reality, to resist the voices and the callings of those whom we shared our lives with?
Can we ignore those who watched over our first steps with tender solicitude? Should we repel the voices and callings of friends from our infancies, adolescences and virility years? Can we disregard friends that one by one disappeared into death, leaving our path in life lonelier and more desolate upon their departure?
Through trance communications they come back with attitudes, voice inflections, reminiscence evocation, and with thousands upon thousands of identity proofs - silly in their particularities for strangers, but so poignant for those interested! They give us instructions regarding problems from the Beyond, admonish and console us. The most phlegmatic men, the most erudite experimenters, such as Dr. Hyslop, could not resist the influences from beyond the grave.26
The above facts show us that, unlike what some people think, we do not just find in Spiritism the socalled
frivolous and abusive practices. On the contrary, we find in Spiritism a noble and generous cause, which
is the affection for our deceased ones, and the interest we have for their memories. Isn’t that one of the most respected aspects of human nature? Isn’t that one of the sentiments, one of the forces that elevates man above matter and establishes the difference between him and the beast?
Besides the touching exhortations of our deceased relatives, we should also acknowledge the powerful
outpouring of the genius from the Spirit World. Pages upon pages were written feverishly, under semidarkness by mediums of our acquaintance, who were incapable of comprehending its value and beauty. These pages showed style of such a splendor whose beauty was only comparable to the wisdom of their ideas. In addition, remarkable speeches as we have many times heard in our study groups, were given through the organs of a medium of modest knowledge and character. Through such speeches superior Spirits have reasoned, speaking to us about the eternal enigma of the world and about the laws that govern the spiritual life.
Those who had the honor of participating in these meetings knew of the penetrating influence they
exerted on all of us. Despite the skeptic tendencies and the mocking spirit of the men of our generation, they could not resist the bouts of eloquence that marked these communications, as they were characterized by accents and even peculiar forms of language. The most cautious men would be forced to recognize in them the characteristic of, and the incontestable sign of a greater moral superiority - the mark of the truth. In the presence of these Spirits, who for a short time descended upon our obscure and undeveloped world to brighten it with a sparkle of their wisdom, the most acute criticism grows dimmer, hesitates and becomes silent.
During eight years we received in the city of Tours these types of communications. They addressed all
the great problems, all major moral and philosophical issues. These communications formed a manuscript of many volumes; the synopsis of that work, much too extensive and copious to be published in its integral form, I wanted to present herein. Jeronimo of Praga, my friend, my guide of the present and the past, the
magnanimous Spirit who directed the first flights of my infantile intelligence in remote ages, is its author.
How many other eminent Spirits working in similar fashion and in the intimacy of some groups have
spread their teachings throughout the world! Almost always anonymously, they reveal themselves only
through the excellence of their concepts.
It was given to me the opportunity of lifting some of the veils that covered his true personality. I should however keep it a secret, as the finest of the spirits are distinguished precisely by their peculiarities of
hiding behind borrowed names, desirous of remaining unidentified. The illustrious names that subscribe
certain empty and shallow communications are no more than a hoax, in the majority of the cases.
With the above details I wanted to demonstrate that this work is not exclusively mine. Instead, it is a reflex of a more elevated thought that I seek to interpret. It is in agreement, in all its essential points, with the views expressed by Allan Kardec’s instructors; points that they left obscure, however, begin to be discussed. I also considered the movement of thought and the human science - its discoveries - which I took care to
indicate in this work. In certain cases, I added my personal impressions and comments, because in Spiritism, we can never say it enough times, there are no dogmas and each of its principles can, and should be discussed, judged, and submitted to the test of reason.
I considered it a duty to make these teachings available so that my brothers and sisters of Earth could
benefit from them. A work is worth its substance. Whatever they may think or say of the Spirits’ Revelation, I
cannot admit that while the Universities teach metaphysical systems engineered by human thought, we allow ourselves to disregard and even reject the principles disclosed by the noble Intelligences of the space.
Having appreciation for the human masters-of-reason, and wisdom does not excuse our neglecting to
bestow upon the above-human masters-of-reason, the representatives of a higher and more critical wisdom, our due appreciation. The human spirit compressed by the flesh, deprived of the plenitude of its resources and perceptions cannot by itself reach the knowledge of the invisible Universe and its laws. The circle in which our lives and thoughts transpire is limited, in the same way that our viewpoint is restricted. The insufficiency of information renders impossible all our generalization.
In order to penetrate the unknown and infinite dominium of the laws we need guides. It is with the collaboration of eminent thinkers of both worlds, of both humanities that we will reach the greatest truths - or
at the least catch a glimpse of them. Then the noblest principles will be established. The masters of space,
more efficiently than the masters of earth know best how to safely enlighten us concerning the problems of life and the mysteries of the soul, and to help us to acquire consciousness of our greatness and of our future.
communications and the freedom that each of us have to appreciate and verify them at will, many people ask what should be of the unity of the doctrine - that powerful unity that has been the strength, the greatness, and that has secured the duration of the sacerdotal religions.
We have said that Spiritism is not dogmatic; it is neither a cult nor orthodoxy. It is a living philosophy
- a privilege of all free spirits, and that it progresses by evolution. It does not make any imposition; it proposes, and what it suggests is based on facts of experience and moral proofs. It does not exclude any other beliefs, but raises above them to embrace them in a vaster approach, in a more elevated and extensive expression of the truth.
The superior Intelligences open the pathways and reveal to us the eternal principles. Each of us adopts
and assimilates these principles according to our own comprehension and in conformity with the level of
development attained by our individual faculties – through the succession of our lives.
In general, the unity of the doctrine is obtained entirely at the cost of its blind and passive submission
to a number of principles set on rigid rules - within inflexible molds. It is the crystallization of thought, the
divorce of Religion and Science, through which it cannot pass without freedom and movement.
The self-imposed immobility and inflexibility of dogmas deprive Religion of all the benefits of social
movement and thought evolution. Considering itself to be the only good and true belief, it goes to the extent of condemning all that is outside of it, consequently driving itself into a tomb whereto it wishes to pull along with itself the intellectual life and genius of the human races.
One thing that Spiritism takes most into account is to avoid the fatal consequences of orthodoxy. Its
revelation is a free and sincere exposition of doctrines that has nothing of immutable; yet, it constitutes a new stage in the path leading to the Eternal and Infinite Truth. Everyone has the right to analyze its principles, which are sanctioned only by conscience and reason. But once these principles are adopted, each individual should strive to conform their lives to them, and accomplish the obligations they propose. Whoever avoids them cannot be considered as a true follower.
Allan Kardec always warned us against dogmatism and the spirit of cults; throughout his work he
persistently urged us to do all we could to prevent Spiritism from crystallizing and to avoid the tragic methods that ruined the religious spirit of our country.
In our times of discord, political and religious battles in which Science and orthodoxies are at war, it is
imperative to show to all men of goodwill – of all opinions, from all fields and beliefs, and to all truly free and
far-reaching thinkers – that there is a neutral ground, that of experimental Spiritualism, where we can meet and hold each other’s hands. No more dogmas! No more mysteries! Let us be open to understanding all facets of the spirit; let us drink from all the fountains of the past and the present. Let us acknowledge that all doctrines have a portion of truth; none, however, encompass it completely, because the truth in its plenitude is far more extensive than the human spirit.
It is only through the accord of people of good will; through the sincere hearts of the free and disinterested spirits that harmony of thought will be accomplished, in addition to the attainment of a greater sum of absorbable truth for the earthly man - in this current historic period.
A day will come when all mankind will comprehend that there is no antithesis between Science and
true Religion. There are only misunderstandings. The discrepancy occurs between Science and orthodoxy,
which is evident in Science’s recent discoveries. These scientific discoveries prudently draw us closer to the sacred doctrines of the Orient and Gallia, in regards to the unity of the world and life evolution. That is why we affirm that although advancing in parallel marches through the long roads of the centuries, Science and faith will unavoidably meet one day. In fact, as their objectives are identical, they will inevitably intertwine with each other. Science will be the analysis and Religion, the synthesis.
The world of facts and causes will be united in them, the two aspects of the human intelligence will
link and together they will tear down the veil of the Invisible. The divine work, in its majestic splendor, will
appear to all eyes!
The allusions we made to ancient doctrines could bring another objection: “Are not the Spiritist
teachings completely new, then?” they will ask. Absolutely not! Lighting has struck throughout all periods of
Humanity; flashes of light have illuminated thought evolution and the necessary truths have appeared to the
wise and the inquisitive. The men of genius, in addition to sensitive and clairvoyant mediums have always
received from the Beyond the appropriate revelations to tend to the needs of human evolution27.
It is unlikely that the first men could have arrived, spontaneously, and by their own mental resource, at
the notion of laws and even to the first forms of civilization. Conscious or not, the communion between earth
and space has always existed.
For this reason, we would find in doctrines of the past the majority of the principles brought to light
again through the Spirits’ teachings.
Finally, as these principles were reserved for the privileged minority, they had not yet penetrated the
souls of the multitudes. In the past these revelations were produced, preferentially, in the form of isolated
communications, and through manifestations that presented a sporadic character, which were often considered miraculous. However, after twenty or thirty centuries of lengthy work and silent progress have elapsed, the spirit of critique evolved and reason was raised up to the concept of superior laws. These phenomena along with their related teachings reappear, and once generalized they come to guide the hesitant societies through the arduous pathways of progress.
It is often in the midst of History’s darkest hours that great synthetic conceptions are formed in the bosom of Humanity. It is also when the decrypted religions - with their voices weakened by age, and the philosophies with their abstract languages - are no longer sufficient to console the afflicted; to lift up the gloomy spirits; to pull the souls up to higher summits. Nevertheless, there is still a great deal of dormant force - containing glowing embers - that can be revived. Hence, we do not agree with the views of some theorists who uphold its demolition, instead of its reconstruction; it would be a mistake. There are distinctions to be made from the inheritance of the past.
Such distinctions can even be extracted from esoteric religions - created for infantile spirits but that
corresponds to the needs of certain categories of souls. Wisdom would consist of gathering the parcels of
eternal life, the elements of moral direction they contain, while eliminating any worthless appendages added by the actions of time and passions.
Who could execute this work of discrimination, selection, and renewal? Man was poorly prepared for
that task. Despite the imperious warnings of the current hour, despite the moral decay of our times, neither the sanctuaries nor the academic cathedras had promoted a voice authorized to say the strong and decisive words the world awaited.
Such impulses could only have come from Above. And so it did! All those who have carefully studied
the past, know that there is a plan in the drama of the centuries. Divine thought manifests itself in different
ways, and the revelation is adjusted in a thousand different ways, as per the requirements of the societies.
It was for this reason that, having approached the time for a new concession, the Invisible World emerged from its silence. Communications from the dead emerged throughout the Earth bringing forth the elements of a doctrine that summarize and fuse together the philosophies and religions of both Humanities.
The purpose of Spiritism is not to destroy, but to unify and complete, thus renewing. It comes to separate from within the dominium of beliefs, that which has life from that which is dead. It collects the relative truths from the numerous systems that have until now encompassed the conscience of Humanity and adds them to the truths of the general order it proclaims.
In summary, Spiritism connects the human soul – which is still uncertain and fragile - with the powerful wings of infinite space, elevating it to heights wherefrom it can embrace the vast harmony of the laws and of the worlds, thus enabling it to obtain a clear sight of its destiny.
Such a destiny finds itself incomparably superior to all secrets kept by the doctrines of the Middle Age
and the theories of other times. A future of immense evolution carried on from sphere to sphere and from
clarity to clarity is open to the soul; its objective is an ending increasingly more beautiful and more illuminated by the rays of Justice and Love.
There are two aspects to the Spiritist Doctrine. One aspect shows a revelation from the spiritual world;
the other shows a human discovery. With the first we have teachings that are universal, extra terrestrial and
identical both in its essential parts and in its general sense. The latter shows that a personal and human
confirmation continues to be made according to the rules of logic, experience and reason. The conviction
emerging from these two aspects is reinforced and becomes progressively more rigorous in direct proportion to the increase in the number of communications received, thus multiplying and expanding the means for its verification.
Until now we were only acquainted with individual systems, that is, private revelations; but today, thousands of voices coming from the deceased make themselves heard. The invisible world is coming into action, and among its agents, we find eminent Spirits allowing themselves to be recognized only through the strength and the beauty of their teachings. The great geniuses of Space, moved by a divine impulse, come to guide our thoughts to radiant summits11.
Isn’t this a vast and grandiose manifestation of Providence, never equaled in the past? The difference
of the means can only be compared to that of the results; let us compare.
The personal revelation is fallible. All human philosophical systems, all individual theories, whether they come from Aristoteles, Tomas of Aquino, Kant, Descartes, Spinoza or from our contemporaries are
unavoidably influenced by the opinions, tendencies, prejudices, and sentiments of their revealers. They also
suffer influences regarding the conditions of time and place in which they are produced. Incidentally, the same can be said of religious doctrines.
The Spirits’ revelation, however, being impersonal and universal, escapes the majority of these influences, while supplying a greater number of probabilities, if not certainties. It cannot be suppressed or tarnished. No man, no nation, no church has privilege over it. It challenges all inquisitions and produces itself wherever one may least expect. The power of its manifestations has converted the most hostile oppositions, illuminating them with the new ideas. These men, when moved deep within their souls by the supplications and exhortations from their deceased relatives, spontaneously made themselves active instruments of its publicity.
Phenomena analogous to that, which happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus do no lack in
Spiritism, and have caused many to convert.
The Spirits have incited a great deal of mediums from all walks of life, from the bosom of all social classes, from among the most diverse factions, and even from the depths of sanctuaries. Clergymen have received instructions and propagated them either openly or under the veil of anonymity. 12
Together, their deceased relatives and friends carried on the dual roles of teachers and revealers, adding formal and irrefutable proofs of identity to their teachings.
It was through such an approach that in fifty years Spiritism was able to stake its claim throughout the
world and to convey its enlightenment. There is a majestic accord in all these voices that have simultaneously arisen to compel our incredulous societies to hear the Glad Tidings of the survival of the soul, and to solve the problems of death and pain. The revelations brought forth by means of mediumship have penetrated the hearts of families, reaching deep down into the atriums and social infernos. Did not the prisoners of Tarragona Prison address, as it is well known, the International Spiritist Congress of Barcelona in 1888, a moving adhesion in favor of a doctrine that, as they said, had converted them to goodness and reconciled them with their duties?13
The multiplicity of teaching sources and diffusion methods of the Spiritist Doctrine constitute a permanent contrast, which frustrates and renders sterile all oppositions and intrigues. Due to its own nature, the revelations of the Spirits escape all monopolization and falsification efforts. All attempts of domination or
dissidence are powerless against it, for if they succeeded in extinguishing or corrupting it in one point, it would immediately re-emerge in a hundred other diverse points, thus rendering ineffective any harmful and
treacherous ambitions.
Within this immense movement of revelation, the souls declare that they obey orders derived from
Above. Their actions are regulated in accordance with a plan designed in advance, and which progresses with majestic amplitude. From the bosom of space an invisible council presides over its execution. It is composed of great Spirits from all races and religions. These enlightened and wholesome souls once lived in this world in accordance with the laws of love and sacrifice. These charitable potencies hover between heaven and earth, uniting the two through a trace of light through which prayers and inspirations continuously arise and descend.
Concerning the concordance of spiritual teachings, there is a fact - an exception - that most impressed
certain detractors, and which they have held as a capital argument against Spiritism.
Why did the Spirits announce to most Latin countries the law of successive lives and the soul’s reincarnation on earth, while they either denied or bypassed them all together in Anglo-Saxon countries? They question how one can explain such a flagrant contradiction?
Isn’t this enough reason to destroy the unity of doctrine that characterizes the New Revelation?
Let us mention that there is no contradiction, but simply a dissemination approach developed because
of prejudice inherited in the caste systems, races and religions that are deeply embedded in certain countries.
Since its beginning, the Spirits’ teachings were more complete and extensive in the Latin centers. For
reasons of opportunity, however, its start was restricted and gradual in other regions. It is verified that the
number of spiritist communications affirming the principle of successive reincarnations have increased daily both in England and in America - many of them even offering precious arguments to the debates taking place among spiritualist of different schools.
In fact, the idea of reincarnation has spread beyond the Atlantic in such a way that one of the main American spiritualistic organizations14, is today fully favorable to it. The “Light” of London that until recently
pushed away this issue, is today discussing it with impartiality. It seems that the shadows and contractions existent in the beginning were only apparent and offered almost no resistance to a serious exam15.
*
As
it happens to all new doctrines, the Spiritist Revelation has
incited many objections and criticisms.Let us consider some of them. Firstly, we are accused of taking great satisfaction in philosophizing. We are also accused of having edified - on the basis of phenomena - an anticipated system, a premature doctrine, and having therefore jeopardized the positive character of modern Spiritualism.
A commendable writer, serving as interpreter for a certain number of psychics summarized his critique in these terms: “A serious objection against the spiritist hypothesis is the “philosophy” that certain hasty men have bestowed upon Spiritism. Spiritism which should only have been a science in its beginning, is already an immense philosophy for which the Universe has no secrets.”
We remind the above author that the men he speaks of simply represented the roles of intermediaries,
limiting themselves to coordinating and publishing the teachings received through mediumship.
On the other hand, we should notice that there will always be indifferent, agnostic and tardy spirits
ready to think we advance too fast. There would not be any possible progress, if we had to wait for latecomers.
It is truly amusing to see people - whose interest for this subject dates back only to yesterday - trying to offer
guidelines to men of the likes of Allan Kardec who dared to publish his works only after years of laborious
investigations and mature reflections, hence complying with formal orders and drinking from fountains of
information that our excellent critics can hardly imagine.
All those who devotedly follow the development of psychic studies, can verify that the results acquired from such a work came to confirm and to further strengthen all the points of Kardec’s work.
Charles Richet tells us that the eminent professor at Cambridge, Frederich Myers (who was for twenty
years the soul of the “Society for Psychical Researches,” of London, and who was subsequently promoted in 1900 to honorary president of the official International Congress of Psychology of Paris) makes the following declaration in the last pages of his magisterial work, La Personnalité Humaine, sa Survivance - a publication that produced a profound sensation in the intellectual world: “For all enlightened and conscious researcher these inquiries will provide place, logic, and obviously a vast philosophic and religious synthesis.” Focusing on this information, he devotes the tenth chapter of that work to a “generalization or conclusion that establishes a more obvious connection between these new discoveries and the scheme of thoughts and beliefs already existent of the civilized man.” 16
The exposition of his work ends as follows:
“Bacon had predicted the progressive victory of observation and experience in all fields of human studies; in all except one: the control over “divine things.” I am determined to show that this great exception is not justified. I insist there is a method to obtain the knowledge of divine things with the same certainty and safety with which we have reached the progress that we possess in the knowledge of terrestrial things. The authority of the church will, therefore, be substituted by that of observation and experience. The impulses of faith will be transformed into rational and firm convictions, giving rise to a superior ideal well above all that Humanity has known thus far.”
Consequently, what some critics of little sagacity consider as a premature endeavor appears to F. Myers as “a necessary and unavoidable evolution.” The philosophical synopsis that concludes his work received the highest support in scientific circles. Sir. Oliver Lodge, the English academic declares: “it constitutes one of the most extensive, comprehensible and well founded proposals concerning existence, that has been seen.” 17
Prof. Flournoy of Geneva gives it his highest praise in his “Archives of Psychologie de la Suisse Romande” (June 1903).
In France, other men of the scientific field, though unrelated with Spiritism, comes to similar conclusions.
Mr. Maxwell, a medical doctor and the substitute Attorney General at the Court of Appeals of Paris
verbalized it as follows18:
“Spiritism arrives at its own time and corresponds to a general need… The expansion this doctrine is
taking is one of the most curious phenomena of the current epoch. We watch what seems to me to be the birth of a true religion, without ritual ceremonies and without the clergy, but with assemblies and practices. Regarding myself, I find extreme interest in these meetings and have the impression of observing the birth of a religious movement predestined to a great future.”
In view of these appreciations, our challengers’ arguments and recriminations come to a halt. What,
then, should we attribute their aversion to the Spiritist Doctrine? Could it be due to the fact that the spiritist
teachings – with its laws of responsibilities, its linkage of cause and effect developed in the moral dominium, and its sanctioning through the examples they bring to us – cause a terrible embarrassment for a great number of people who pays little importance to philosophy?
Speaking on psychic facts, F. Myers says19: “these observations, experiences and inductions open the
door to a revelation.” It is evident that the day relationship with the Spirit world was established by the natural force of events, the problem of the being and its destiny - with all its consequences and with new aspects - was also immediately raised.
Say what they may, it was not possible to communicate with deceased relatives and friends and avoid
concerning ourselves with their way of existence, or without taking an interest in their views, forcibly
expanded and different from those they possessed while on Earth - at least for the souls already developed.
No time in History could mankind withdraw from the great problems of being, life, death, and pain. Despite man’s inability to solve these problems, they have continuously worried him - returning with more determination each time he tried to push them away - infiltrating themselves in all events of his life, lodging
deep into the recesses of his mind, knocking so to speak at his conscience’s door. How could he be indifferent to a new source of teachings, consolation and moral force? How could he ignore the vast horizon that opened to his thoughts? Isn’t it pertaining to both, our relatives and us? Isn’t it our future destiny and our tomorrow’s fate that is in question?
Why! The torment, the anguish resulting from the unknown that has afflicted the soul through the times; the confusing intuition of a better, forefelt and desired world. The anxious search for God and his justice can be - in a new and more expansive approach - appeased, clarified, and satisfied. Could we ignore the pathway to accomplish that? Isn’t the desire and need of our minds to inquire into that great mystery one of the most beautiful privileges of the human being? Isn’t that what constitutes the dignity, the beauty, and the reason for being in one’s life?
Have we not seen that every time we have ignored this right, this privilege; every time we have momentarily renounced to turn our sights to the Beyond and to direct our thoughts towards a more elevated life; or else when we have sought to restrict that horizon, have we not seen, concurrently, the moral miseries
aggravated, the weight of existence befalling heavier on the shoulders of the miserable, desperation and
suicide increasing its area of devastation and societies retreating back towards decadence and anarchy?
There is still another kind of objection: the spiritist philosophy, they say, has no consistency; the communications upon which it is based originate most often from the mediums, from their own subconscious mind, or else from the audience’s spirits. The medium in trance “reads from the consultees’ spirits the doctrine accumulated therein, and that these eclectic doctrines are drawn from philosophies from all over the world, but mostly from Hinduism.”
Did the author of these lines reflect thoroughly upon the difficulties that such a task could bring? Would he be able to explain the process by which one could, at first sight, read the accumulated doctrines in a person’s mind? If this is possible, then do it! As it stands, we have basis to see in his allegations nothing more than words employed deceitfully and at the work of a passionate critic. Those who do not want to seem mistaken with their sentiments are often cheated by their words. The systematic disbelief on a point, at times, turns into naive credulity on another20.
Before proceeding we remind you that the opinions of the majority of the mediums, at the beginning
of the manifestations, were entirely opposite to those enunciated in their communications. Nearly all the
mediums had received a religious education and were imbued with ideas of a paradise and an inferno. Their ideas concerning the future life, whenever they had them, differed significantly from those exposed by the Spirits. The ideas of heaven and hell are still most frequently the case today. In fact, that was the case of three mediums from our group, all practicing catholic women, who despite the philosophical teachings they received and transmitted, never fully renounced their cultural habits.21
As for the audience, listeners, or people considered as “consultees,” let us recall that at the dawn of Spiritism in France - that is, in Allan Kardec’s time - the men and women who possessed notions of oriental or druidic philosophy acknowledging the theory of transmigration or the successive lives of the soul, were a very small number. Information on the subject was not readily available; it was necessary to seek them in the bosom of the academies or in some secluded scientific centers.
We ask our challengers how could it be possible for such a vast number of mediums spread throughout
the whole earth, working independently and being strangers to each other, by themselves alone constitute the basis of a doctrine with sufficient strength to resist all attacks and criticisms. A doctrine so exact, that its
principles would be validated time and again by the daily receipt of confirming experiences, as described at the beginning of this chapter.
Regarding the sincerity of the mediumistic communications and their philosophical achievement, we are going to cite the words of an orator, whose opinions will not seem suspect, knowing the aversion most
ecclesiastics have concerning Spiritism.
During a sermon given on April 7, 1899, in New York, Reverend J. Savage, a well-known preacher
said:
“The supposed nonsense said to come from the other world makes up a legion. Along with it, however, there exists one of the most pure and complete moral literature - of incomparable spiritualistic teachings. I know of a book whose author is a graduate from Oxford and also a minister of the English Church. That book was written through automatic writing. At times, in order to deviate his thoughts from the work his hand executed, the author read Plato in Greek. In contrast to what is commonly admitted for that kind of work, that book was in absolute opposition to the author’s religious beliefs. (This author and medium converted into Spiritism, before concluding the book.22) That work contains moral and spiritual teachings worthy of any of the Bibles that are in existence throughout the world.”
The first periods of Christianity were composed of people who were looked down upon and deemed
unworthy of any attention by those of the established society. One should read Saint Paul’s story to recall it.
Modern Spiritualism was launched on similar circumstances; only, in the shadow of its banner, we find many of today’s honored names, followed by the best and most enlightened men. Observe then, that in general, it is a great and most sincere movement.” 23
In his speech, reverend Savage knew to give each thing its proper place. It is certain that not all
mediumistic communications offer the same degree of interest. Many of them are simply composed of
foolishness, repetitions and trivialities. Not all Spirits have the capability of transmitting useful and profound
teachings. As it happens on earth, but even more meticulously in space, the scale of beings holds an infinite number of degrees. In that scale we find the noblest intelligences, as well as the most vulgar souls. At times, however, even the inferior Spirits, by describing their moral situations, their impressions at the moment of death and their situations in the Beyond - thus initiating us in the particulars of their new existences - furnish us with precious material to determine the conditions of survival of the diverse categories of Spirits.
Thus, from our relationship with the Invisibles, we can cultivate elements for our own education, though not all should be taken into consideration. The cautious and astute experimenters must know how to separate the glitter from the gold. The truth does not always reach us in its purest state. Interaction with those from the Above provides man with an ample field for the exercising of his faculties and reasoning abilities.
It is necessary to act with the utmost caution, be attentive and apply continuous examination to all24. In
addition, we have to guard against conscious or unconscious frauds, while ascertaining that the written
messages are not a mere case of animism. In order to accomplish this it is critical to verify if the
communications are superior to the medium’s capabilities, by analyzing the form and depth of the messages. It is necessary to request proofs of identity from the manifesting spirits, and not to relinquish the severest control - except in cases in which the teachings make an impression, because the superior nature and exceptional amplitude of the messages are well above the faculties of the transmitter.
Once the authenticity of the communications is established, it is necessary to compare them among
themselves and submit the scientific and philosophical principles they express to a severe examination; only the points where a near unanimity of viewpoint is established are accepted.
In addition to frauds of a human origin, there are also the mystifications of an occult origin. All serious
experimenters know there are two kinds of Spiritism. One that is practiced negligently, without method or
thought elevation, which attracts to us the fools from space, the frivolous and mocking Spirits. These kinds of spirits are numerous in the terrestrial atmosphere. The other kind of Spiritism, which has a greater
circumscription, is practiced with sobriety and a respectful sentiment. It places us in contact with the advanced Spirits, who are always eager to help and to enlighten those who call upon them with a heartfelt fervor. Religions have known and designated this kind of Spiritism as the communication of the saints.
It is often asked how is it possible to distinguish from the vast number of communications, whose authors are invisible, those that originate from superior entities and should be retained. There is only one answer to this question. How do we distinguish good and bad books from authors deceased a long time ago? How should a noble and elevated language be distinguished from one that is dull and vulgar? Do we not have a standard, a rule to appraise the thoughts - whether they come from our world or the other? Mediumistic messages are judged primarily by their moralistic effects. Countless times, these messages have improved many wicked traits and purified many consciences. That is the safest criterion of all philosophical teaching.
There are several ways to recognize and distinguish the good Spirits from the primitive souls, in our
relationship with the Invisibles. The sensitive (medium) easily recognizes the nature of the fluids, which are
subtle and agreeable with the good Spirits; these fluids are violent, glacial and difficult to withstand when
dealing with the bad Spirits. One of our mediums always announced in advance the arrival of a “Blue Spirit,” whose presence was revealed by harmonious vibrations and brilliant radiation.
Other Spirits are recognizable to certain mediums by their smell. In one case the smell is of a delicate
and suave fragrance;25 in another it is repugnant. A Spirit’s elevation is evaluated by the purity of its fluids,
the beauty of its form, and by its language.
With these kinds of investigations, the one thing that most intrigues, persuades and convinces us, are
the conversations held with our relatives and friends that preceded us to the spiritual life. When incontestable proofs of identity give us the certainty of their presence; when the intimacy of the past, trust and friendship is again established among us, the revelations obtained under such conditions take on a most persuasive character.
Upon these proofs of identity, the last hesitations of skepticism forcibly dissipate, giving way to the
impulses of the heart.
Is it possible, in reality, to resist the voices and the callings of those whom we shared our lives with?
Can we ignore those who watched over our first steps with tender solicitude? Should we repel the voices and callings of friends from our infancies, adolescences and virility years? Can we disregard friends that one by one disappeared into death, leaving our path in life lonelier and more desolate upon their departure?
Through trance communications they come back with attitudes, voice inflections, reminiscence evocation, and with thousands upon thousands of identity proofs - silly in their particularities for strangers, but so poignant for those interested! They give us instructions regarding problems from the Beyond, admonish and console us. The most phlegmatic men, the most erudite experimenters, such as Dr. Hyslop, could not resist the influences from beyond the grave.26
The above facts show us that, unlike what some people think, we do not just find in Spiritism the socalled
frivolous and abusive practices. On the contrary, we find in Spiritism a noble and generous cause, which
is the affection for our deceased ones, and the interest we have for their memories. Isn’t that one of the most respected aspects of human nature? Isn’t that one of the sentiments, one of the forces that elevates man above matter and establishes the difference between him and the beast?
Besides the touching exhortations of our deceased relatives, we should also acknowledge the powerful
outpouring of the genius from the Spirit World. Pages upon pages were written feverishly, under semidarkness by mediums of our acquaintance, who were incapable of comprehending its value and beauty. These pages showed style of such a splendor whose beauty was only comparable to the wisdom of their ideas. In addition, remarkable speeches as we have many times heard in our study groups, were given through the organs of a medium of modest knowledge and character. Through such speeches superior Spirits have reasoned, speaking to us about the eternal enigma of the world and about the laws that govern the spiritual life.
Those who had the honor of participating in these meetings knew of the penetrating influence they
exerted on all of us. Despite the skeptic tendencies and the mocking spirit of the men of our generation, they could not resist the bouts of eloquence that marked these communications, as they were characterized by accents and even peculiar forms of language. The most cautious men would be forced to recognize in them the characteristic of, and the incontestable sign of a greater moral superiority - the mark of the truth. In the presence of these Spirits, who for a short time descended upon our obscure and undeveloped world to brighten it with a sparkle of their wisdom, the most acute criticism grows dimmer, hesitates and becomes silent.
During eight years we received in the city of Tours these types of communications. They addressed all
the great problems, all major moral and philosophical issues. These communications formed a manuscript of many volumes; the synopsis of that work, much too extensive and copious to be published in its integral form, I wanted to present herein. Jeronimo of Praga, my friend, my guide of the present and the past, the
magnanimous Spirit who directed the first flights of my infantile intelligence in remote ages, is its author.
How many other eminent Spirits working in similar fashion and in the intimacy of some groups have
spread their teachings throughout the world! Almost always anonymously, they reveal themselves only
through the excellence of their concepts.
It was given to me the opportunity of lifting some of the veils that covered his true personality. I should however keep it a secret, as the finest of the spirits are distinguished precisely by their peculiarities of
hiding behind borrowed names, desirous of remaining unidentified. The illustrious names that subscribe
certain empty and shallow communications are no more than a hoax, in the majority of the cases.
With the above details I wanted to demonstrate that this work is not exclusively mine. Instead, it is a reflex of a more elevated thought that I seek to interpret. It is in agreement, in all its essential points, with the views expressed by Allan Kardec’s instructors; points that they left obscure, however, begin to be discussed. I also considered the movement of thought and the human science - its discoveries - which I took care to
indicate in this work. In certain cases, I added my personal impressions and comments, because in Spiritism, we can never say it enough times, there are no dogmas and each of its principles can, and should be discussed, judged, and submitted to the test of reason.
I considered it a duty to make these teachings available so that my brothers and sisters of Earth could
benefit from them. A work is worth its substance. Whatever they may think or say of the Spirits’ Revelation, I
cannot admit that while the Universities teach metaphysical systems engineered by human thought, we allow ourselves to disregard and even reject the principles disclosed by the noble Intelligences of the space.
Having appreciation for the human masters-of-reason, and wisdom does not excuse our neglecting to
bestow upon the above-human masters-of-reason, the representatives of a higher and more critical wisdom, our due appreciation. The human spirit compressed by the flesh, deprived of the plenitude of its resources and perceptions cannot by itself reach the knowledge of the invisible Universe and its laws. The circle in which our lives and thoughts transpire is limited, in the same way that our viewpoint is restricted. The insufficiency of information renders impossible all our generalization.
In order to penetrate the unknown and infinite dominium of the laws we need guides. It is with the collaboration of eminent thinkers of both worlds, of both humanities that we will reach the greatest truths - or
at the least catch a glimpse of them. Then the noblest principles will be established. The masters of space,
more efficiently than the masters of earth know best how to safely enlighten us concerning the problems of life and the mysteries of the soul, and to help us to acquire consciousness of our greatness and of our future.
*
Often
when we are asked a question, a new objection is raised. Because
of the infinite variety ofcommunications and the freedom that each of us have to appreciate and verify them at will, many people ask what should be of the unity of the doctrine - that powerful unity that has been the strength, the greatness, and that has secured the duration of the sacerdotal religions.
We have said that Spiritism is not dogmatic; it is neither a cult nor orthodoxy. It is a living philosophy
- a privilege of all free spirits, and that it progresses by evolution. It does not make any imposition; it proposes, and what it suggests is based on facts of experience and moral proofs. It does not exclude any other beliefs, but raises above them to embrace them in a vaster approach, in a more elevated and extensive expression of the truth.
The superior Intelligences open the pathways and reveal to us the eternal principles. Each of us adopts
and assimilates these principles according to our own comprehension and in conformity with the level of
development attained by our individual faculties – through the succession of our lives.
In general, the unity of the doctrine is obtained entirely at the cost of its blind and passive submission
to a number of principles set on rigid rules - within inflexible molds. It is the crystallization of thought, the
divorce of Religion and Science, through which it cannot pass without freedom and movement.
The self-imposed immobility and inflexibility of dogmas deprive Religion of all the benefits of social
movement and thought evolution. Considering itself to be the only good and true belief, it goes to the extent of condemning all that is outside of it, consequently driving itself into a tomb whereto it wishes to pull along with itself the intellectual life and genius of the human races.
One thing that Spiritism takes most into account is to avoid the fatal consequences of orthodoxy. Its
revelation is a free and sincere exposition of doctrines that has nothing of immutable; yet, it constitutes a new stage in the path leading to the Eternal and Infinite Truth. Everyone has the right to analyze its principles, which are sanctioned only by conscience and reason. But once these principles are adopted, each individual should strive to conform their lives to them, and accomplish the obligations they propose. Whoever avoids them cannot be considered as a true follower.
Allan Kardec always warned us against dogmatism and the spirit of cults; throughout his work he
persistently urged us to do all we could to prevent Spiritism from crystallizing and to avoid the tragic methods that ruined the religious spirit of our country.
In our times of discord, political and religious battles in which Science and orthodoxies are at war, it is
imperative to show to all men of goodwill – of all opinions, from all fields and beliefs, and to all truly free and
far-reaching thinkers – that there is a neutral ground, that of experimental Spiritualism, where we can meet and hold each other’s hands. No more dogmas! No more mysteries! Let us be open to understanding all facets of the spirit; let us drink from all the fountains of the past and the present. Let us acknowledge that all doctrines have a portion of truth; none, however, encompass it completely, because the truth in its plenitude is far more extensive than the human spirit.
It is only through the accord of people of good will; through the sincere hearts of the free and disinterested spirits that harmony of thought will be accomplished, in addition to the attainment of a greater sum of absorbable truth for the earthly man - in this current historic period.
A day will come when all mankind will comprehend that there is no antithesis between Science and
true Religion. There are only misunderstandings. The discrepancy occurs between Science and orthodoxy,
which is evident in Science’s recent discoveries. These scientific discoveries prudently draw us closer to the sacred doctrines of the Orient and Gallia, in regards to the unity of the world and life evolution. That is why we affirm that although advancing in parallel marches through the long roads of the centuries, Science and faith will unavoidably meet one day. In fact, as their objectives are identical, they will inevitably intertwine with each other. Science will be the analysis and Religion, the synthesis.
The world of facts and causes will be united in them, the two aspects of the human intelligence will
link and together they will tear down the veil of the Invisible. The divine work, in its majestic splendor, will
appear to all eyes!
The allusions we made to ancient doctrines could bring another objection: “Are not the Spiritist
teachings completely new, then?” they will ask. Absolutely not! Lighting has struck throughout all periods of
Humanity; flashes of light have illuminated thought evolution and the necessary truths have appeared to the
wise and the inquisitive. The men of genius, in addition to sensitive and clairvoyant mediums have always
received from the Beyond the appropriate revelations to tend to the needs of human evolution27.
It is unlikely that the first men could have arrived, spontaneously, and by their own mental resource, at
the notion of laws and even to the first forms of civilization. Conscious or not, the communion between earth
and space has always existed.
For this reason, we would find in doctrines of the past the majority of the principles brought to light
again through the Spirits’ teachings.
Finally, as these principles were reserved for the privileged minority, they had not yet penetrated the
souls of the multitudes. In the past these revelations were produced, preferentially, in the form of isolated
communications, and through manifestations that presented a sporadic character, which were often considered miraculous. However, after twenty or thirty centuries of lengthy work and silent progress have elapsed, the spirit of critique evolved and reason was raised up to the concept of superior laws. These phenomena along with their related teachings reappear, and once generalized they come to guide the hesitant societies through the arduous pathways of progress.
It is often in the midst of History’s darkest hours that great synthetic conceptions are formed in the bosom of Humanity. It is also when the decrypted religions - with their voices weakened by age, and the philosophies with their abstract languages - are no longer sufficient to console the afflicted; to lift up the gloomy spirits; to pull the souls up to higher summits. Nevertheless, there is still a great deal of dormant force - containing glowing embers - that can be revived. Hence, we do not agree with the views of some theorists who uphold its demolition, instead of its reconstruction; it would be a mistake. There are distinctions to be made from the inheritance of the past.
Such distinctions can even be extracted from esoteric religions - created for infantile spirits but that
corresponds to the needs of certain categories of souls. Wisdom would consist of gathering the parcels of
eternal life, the elements of moral direction they contain, while eliminating any worthless appendages added by the actions of time and passions.
Who could execute this work of discrimination, selection, and renewal? Man was poorly prepared for
that task. Despite the imperious warnings of the current hour, despite the moral decay of our times, neither the sanctuaries nor the academic cathedras had promoted a voice authorized to say the strong and decisive words the world awaited.
Such impulses could only have come from Above. And so it did! All those who have carefully studied
the past, know that there is a plan in the drama of the centuries. Divine thought manifests itself in different
ways, and the revelation is adjusted in a thousand different ways, as per the requirements of the societies.
It was for this reason that, having approached the time for a new concession, the Invisible World emerged from its silence. Communications from the dead emerged throughout the Earth bringing forth the elements of a doctrine that summarize and fuse together the philosophies and religions of both Humanities.
The purpose of Spiritism is not to destroy, but to unify and complete, thus renewing. It comes to separate from within the dominium of beliefs, that which has life from that which is dead. It collects the relative truths from the numerous systems that have until now encompassed the conscience of Humanity and adds them to the truths of the general order it proclaims.
In summary, Spiritism connects the human soul – which is still uncertain and fragile - with the powerful wings of infinite space, elevating it to heights wherefrom it can embrace the vast harmony of the laws and of the worlds, thus enabling it to obtain a clear sight of its destiny.
Such a destiny finds itself incomparably superior to all secrets kept by the doctrines of the Middle Age
and the theories of other times. A future of immense evolution carried on from sphere to sphere and from
clarity to clarity is open to the soul; its objective is an ending increasingly more beautiful and more illuminated by the rays of Justice and Love.
4 This chapter was left out when this book was first translated and published in English. The translator of this chapter is: Eliene Sherman; final editing: Louis Albert Day; revision against the French original (Nouvelle Edition - Conforme a l’edition de 1922 - Union Spirite Française et Francophone): Jussara Korngold.
5 See Dans l’Invisible - “Spiritisme et Médiumnité,” 2nd part. Here we speak only of spiritist facts instead of animism or distant manifestations from the living.
6 We call the spirit a soul when clothed with its subtle body.
7 See Allan Kardec – The Spirits’ Book, The Mediums’ Book.You can read in the Spiritist Magazine of 1860, pg 81, a message from the spirit of Dr. Vignal declaring that the body radiates obscure light. Isn’t this the radioactivity verified by current Science, but until then ignored? In 1867 Allan Kardec wrote in his book Genesis, Chap. XIV (concerning fluids), the following: “Who knows the inner constitution of a tangible matter? Maybe it is in solid form only in relation to our senses. The proof of that is the ease with which it is crossed by spiritual fluids and by the Spirits themselves, as it offers no more obstruction than transparent bodies do to rays of light. Since tangible matter has the ethereal cosmic fluid as its primitive element, upon its disintegration, it should be able to return to its ethereal state - much like the diamond, the hardest of all bodies, can evaporate into impalpable gas. In reality the solidification of matter is no more than a transitory state of the universal cosmic fluid, which can return to its primitive state, when the condition of cohesion ceases to exist.
8 See Compte rendu du Congrès Spirite of 1900 pgs. 349 and 350 and Scientific and Moral Magazine of Spiritism, July and August of 1904. See also: A. de Rochas, The Successive Lives, Chacornac, ed. 1911.
9 See Dans I’Invisible, pg. 299 on.
10 Facts do not have value without the reason that analyzes and deduces from them the law. Phenomena are ephemeral; the certainty they give us is only apparent and without duration. Only the Spirit possesses certainty, absolute truths are of a subjective order, and History shows it. Through the centuries it was believed, and many still believe, that the Sun is born every day. It was necessary to discover through intelligence the movements of the Earth, imperceptible to the senses, in order to understand the return of the same points to the same position in relation to the sun What has been done with most theories of Physics and Chemistry? Clearly, there exists little more than the laws of attraction and gravity and, still, they may apply only to a section of the Universe. Consequently, the method at hand is as follows:
1st) Observation of the facts;
2nd) Its generalization and investigation of the law;
3rd) The rational induction that goes beyond the fleeting and mutable phenomena and perceives the permanent cause that produces them.
11 See the communications published by Allan Kardec in The Spirits’ Book and in Heaven and Hell. Spirit Teachings obtained by Stainton Moses. We also indicate – Le Problème de l’Au-Delà (Conseils des Invisibles), Collection of messages published by General Amade. Leymarie, Paris, 1902; Sur le Chemin.., of Albert Pauchard and La Vie Continue de l’Ame, by A. Naschitz-Rousseau, a collection of messages of extreme interest (Editions Jean Meyer, Paris, 1922).
12 See Rafael, Le Doute, Father Marchal, The Consoling Spirit. Reverend Stainton Moses, Spirit Teachings. Father Didon wrote (August 4, 1876), in his Lettres to Mlle. Th. V. (Plon-Nourrit, edit., Paris, 1902), pg. 34: “I believe in the influence the dead and the saints mysteriously exert upon us. I live in profound communion with the invisibles, and feel the delights of the benefits received from such secret companionship. Mr. Alfred Benézech, an eminent preacher of the reformed church of France recently wrote to us (February of 1905) regarding the phenomena observed by him: “I feel that Spiritism can really become a positive religion, not one similar to those already revealed, but in the quality of a religion in accordance with reasoning and Science. What a strange thing! In our epoch of materialism, in which the churches - appearing to be about to disorganize and dissolve, the religious thought returns to us through the intellectuals, accompanied by the marvelous of ancient times. This marvelous - which I make a distinction from miracle, since it is no more than a natural, superior and rare fact - will not continue to be at the service of an exclusive church, honored with favors from the divinity. Rather, it will be a patrimony of Humanity, but without distinction of cults. How much greatness and morality is there not
in this?”
13 See Compte rendu du Congrès Spirite de Barcelone, 1888. Library of Psychic Sciences, Paris, 42, rue Saint-Jacques.
14 The Banner of Light, which distributes 30,000 copies.
15 See ahead, chapters XIV, XV and XVI, the testimonies obtained in America and England supporting reincarnation.
16 F. Myers – La Personnalité Humaine, sa Survivance, ses Manifestations Supranormales, Felix Alcan, edition of 1905, pgs. 401 to 403.
17 Myers’ synopsis can be abridged as follows: Gradual and Infinite Evolution, with multiple stages, of the human soul in wisdom and love. The human soul extracts its strength and grace from a spiritual universe. That universe is animated and governed by the Divine Spirit, is accessible to the soul and is in communication with it.
18 J. Maxwell – Les Phénomènes Psychiques, Alcan, ed., 1903, pgs. 8 & 11.
19 F. Myers – La Personnalité Humaine, etc., pg. 417.
20 It is known that the suggestion and transmission of thought can only exert action in patients that have been prepared for a long time for that purpose and only when it is done by people who exert some ascendancy over them. Up to now, these experiences do not go beyond words or a series of words and were never able to constitute a set of doctrines. A thought-reader medium, inspired in the opinions of the spectators, if that were possible, would take from them, not precise notions on any philosophical concept, but the most confused and contradictory data.
21 Russell-Wallace, the English academic, in his beautiful work The Miracles and Modern Spiritism, verbalizes it as follows:
“Having the mediums, in general, been educated in any of the usual orthodox beliefs, how can one explain that the notions of paradise are never confirmed by them? The extensive brochures of spiritualistic literature do not show any trace of a Spirit describing angels with wings, golden harps, or God’s throne, where most modest orthodox Christians believe they would be placed, if they were to go to heaven.
There is nothing more marvelous in the history of the human spirit than the following fact: Whether it is deep within the most remote American forest, or in the less important cities of England, ignorant men and women – most of which were educated in the usual sectarian beliefs of heaven and hell – ever since they were taken over by the strange powers of mediumship, they gave on the subject teachings that were more philosophical than religious. Furthermore, those teachings differed considerably from all that was so deeply engraved within their spirit.
22 It refers to Stainton Moses – Spirit Teachings.
23 Reproduced by Revue du Spiritualisme Moderne, October 25, de 1901.
Note that in cases like that of Stainton Moses, besides automatic writing, messages can also be obtained through direct writing, without any intervention
of the human hand.
24 See conditions on experimentation – Allan Kardec, The Mediums’ Book;” G. Delanne, Recherches sur la Médiumnité; Léon Denis, Dans l’Invisible,
chapter IX.
25 See Dr. Maxwell, general advocate, Les Phénomènes Psychiques, pg 164.
26 See Dans l’Invisible, chap. XIX, Professor Hyslop’s (of Colombia University) conversations with his deceased father, brothers and uncles.
27 See Dans l’Invisible, chapter XXVI – “La Médiuminité Glorieuse (The Glorious Mediumship).”
Next:
CHAPTER
III -
THE PROBLEM OF LIFE
| ° SPIRIT MESSAGES |
Spiritists, are you speaking of your beliefs to those very young ones beside you?
If the answer is no, is it because you have no Spiritist Center near you so you can send them for spiritual instruction? Do you think yourself too imperfect that you feel you cannot explain the Spiritist Doctrine to your children? Do you feel you are not knowledgeable enough? Then read and study!
How do you think this world will change its culture of fear of life and of death, if you do not pass on your Spiritist beliefs? Will you let your beliefs die with you?
Every person on this planet is imperfect or you would not even be here but it does not give you the excuse to forgo instructing your children, grandchildren, your nieces, nephews, etc. those whom you supposedly love, regarding the knowledge that has to do with the true purpose of life and can help them to not fear that transition humans call “death.”
Each must do their part. Start small and let the child’s curiosity guide you. You are not alone, your spirit guides and theirs will be there beside you to inspire in you the proper words to say. Teach about the Creator, All Powerful and Perfectly Good. Teach them that they have a soul and that they have a spirit protector. Teach them the basics of the Ten Commandments and, that the true goal of life is to be as good as one can be and to help others as one can. Teach them how to pray and that they do it often and why. Teach them that our souls never die only our physical bodies. Later, as they get older and ask questions you can explain more and more to them. Later, they can read the Spiritist books for themselves. Then you will have done your duty and it is up to them to accept or reject the belief.
But Spiritists, failure to even try to teach these young ones is not acceptable and you will be held accountable. This moral and spiritual knowledge must be passed on! This is what will help mankind to evolve.
So, don’t forget the little children and turn them away as did the apostles, for even Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for such is the Kingdom of Heaven...”
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| ° UPCOMING EVENTS |
Rhine Research Center
2741 Campus Walk Avenue
Building 500
Durham, NC 27705 - USA
2741 Campus Walk Avenue
Building 500
Durham, NC 27705 - USA
Wednesday, February 15, 12-2pm: Scholars Luncheon,."The Spiritist View of Mental Disorders" a presentation and discussion by Brazilian psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Moreira-Almeida, based on his recent article in Transcultural Psychiatry. In October Dr. Almeida presented his research findings on the relationship of mediumship and mental health in modern Brazilian culture (see summary on the www.rhine.org in the Public Events section). This Scholars Luncheon will allow further exploration of how paranormal experience is viewed and managed in another culture. Healthcare providers and counselors are especially invited to this presentation. Donations $10, RRC Members $8. Bring a bag lunch, drinks will be provided.
Information: http://www.rhine.org/contact.htm
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Dr. Bezerra de Menezes: The Poor Man's Doctor
A special event to commemorate 23 years of the UK Spiritist Movement
Monday 20th February 2006
7:30 - 9:00 pm
Guest Lecturer: Nazareno Feitosa
A special event to commemorate 23 years of the UK Spiritist Movement
Monday 20th February 2006
7:30 - 9:00 pm
Guest Lecturer: Nazareno Feitosa
Speaking in English
of the life and work of one of the pionners of the
Spiritist Movement in Brazil
Venue:
The Quaker Meeting House
1A Jewel Road - Walthamstow - E17
(Victoria Line - Walthamstow Central)
UK
The Quaker Meeting House
1A Jewel Road - Walthamstow - E17
(Victoria Line - Walthamstow Central)
UK
Information: 020-8923-5073 / duncan.kardec@yahoo.co.uk
British Union of Spiritist Societies - BUSS
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"Reunions: Visionary Encounters With Departed Ones" by Raymond Moody, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. Best-selling and award-winning author of eleven books including Life After Life, which has sold over 13 million copies world wide. Dr. Moody is a worldrenowned scholar and researcher who coined the term “near-death experience".
"The Spiritist Therapy for Those Who Stayed" by Divaldo Franco. Humanitarian and worldwide renowned Spiritist speaker and medium, Mr. Franco has given more than 14, 000 lectures and spoken in 56 countries. Through his extraordinary mediumship, he has published more than 200 books and 70 of them have already been translated to 15
languages.
March
16, 2006
7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
(Reception at 6:30pm)
Holiday Inn Select
2004 Greenspring Drive
Timonium, MD 21093 - USA
Spiritist Society of Baltimore, Inc.
7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
(Reception at 6:30pm)
Holiday Inn Select
2004 Greenspring Drive
Timonium, MD 21093 - USA
Spiritist Society of Baltimore, Inc.
Information: http://www.ssbaltimore.org
2006 Conference - Life After Death: The Evidence
June 8, 9 and 10, 2006
Information: http://aaevp.com/conference/aaevp_conference.html
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A
Beacon of Light
Location: Chilford Hall, Linton nr Cambridge - UK
Date : commencing Friday Evening 27th October 2006
& Saturday 28th October 2006.
Information: http://www.parafest2006.com/
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GRUPO DE ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS ESPÍRITAS
ADVANCED STUDY GROUP OF SPIRITISM
Electronic weekly report in Portuguese - Boletim do GEAE
Monthly English report: "The Spiritist Messenger"
The
Spiritist Messenger is sent by email to GEAE subscribers
or to inscricao-en@geae.inf.br with the subject "unsubscribe"
(Free) subscriptions http://www.geae.inf.br/
Send
your comments to editor-en@geae.inf.br
or to inscricao-en@geae.inf.br with the subject "unsubscribe"
Editorial
Council - editor-en@geae.inf.br
Collection in Portuguese (Boletim do GEAE)
Collection in English (The Spiritist Messenger)
Collection in Spanish (El Mensajero Espírita)