In this issue we continue the study of the book Posthumous Works, published after Allan Kardec disembodied and containing texts written by him. The present work is based on the translation made by Dr. Guillon Ribeiro, published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation.
Questions for discussion
157. How and when did Kardec meet the Baudin sisters?
158. What subjects were discussed at those meetings?
159. Was it then that Kardec’s first studies on Spiritism began?
160. When did the sessions at Mr. Baudin’s take a new turn?
161. When did Kardec meet Miss Japhet?
Answers to the proposed questions
157. How and when did Kardec meet the Baudin sisters?
It was at one of the soirees at Mrs. Plainemaison’s. The Baudin family then lived in Rochechouart Street. Mr. Baudin invited him to attend the weekly sessions in their home, and he immediately accepted and became a regular participant. The psychics were the two young Baudin girls, Julie and Caroline, who wrote on a slate with the help of a basket that moved like a spinning top, described in The Book of Mediums. This process, which requires the assistance of two people, excluded the possibility of the participation of the medium's thoughts. Kardec saw there communications and answers to the questions presented, sometimes even to mental questions, which was an evident proof of the intervention of a foreign intelligence. (Posthumous Works - Part II - The first works).
158. What subjects were discussed at those meetings?
Usually the subjects were frivolous; most of the times the matters discussed were about the material life, and the future, in a word, nothing really serious. People went there mostly for curiosity and fun. The Spirit that usually manifested named itself Zephyr, a name according to its character and the meeting; however, it was a good Spirit, and it declared being the protector of the family. It was often smiling, knew how to give wise counseling, and also knew how to use, when applicable, the sharp and witty epigram. It constantly showed a great sympathy for Kardec. Zephyr was not a very advanced Spirit; however, later assisted by Higher Spirits, it helped the future Encoder in his early work. Sometime later, in one of those meetings it said it would reincarnate and was no longer heard of. (Posthumous Works - Part II - The first works).
159. Was it then that Kardec’s first studies on Spiritism began?
Yes, these early studies were important and based more on observation than on revelations. The professor used on this new science, as he had done until then, the experimental method. He never formulated preconceived theories; he watched closely, comparing, and deduced the consequences; from the effects he went back to the causes, using deduction and by the logical sequence of events, not accepting an explanation as valid only when he could solve all the difficulties of the question. That was how he proceeded in his previous works, from the age of 15. He immediately understood the seriousness of the studies he was undertaking and foresaw in these phenomena the key to the problem, so obscure and so controversial, from the past to the future of Mankind, the solution of something that he had looked for all his life. However, it was necessary to act with prudence and not lightly; be positive and not idealistic, not to be deceived.
One of the first results of his observation was that, the Spirits being but the souls of men, who disincarnated, they had neither the sovereign wisdom, nor the sovereign science; that their knowledge was limited to the degree of their improvement, and that their opinions were just personal opinions. This truth, recognized from the beginning, preserved Kardec from the great obstacle of believing in the infallibility of the Spirits and prevented him from formulating premature theories about the thoughts expressed by one or by some Spirits.
The fact that the communication with the Spirits, regardless of what resulted from it, was already the proof of the existence of the invisible world environment, and that was a capital point, a huge field open to exploitation and the key to a multitude of unexplained phenomena. The second point, not least, was the possibility of knowing the condition of this world and its customs. Each Spirit, because of its personal position and knowledge, showed him a new phase, in the same manner as one becomes acquainted with the condition of a country by questioning the people of all classes and conditions, each one teaching something, since none individually could teach everything.
The Professor dealt with the Spirits as he would have done with men; and they were to him, from the smallest to the largest, elements of information, not predestined revelators. (Posthumous Works - Part II - The first works).
160. When did the sessions at Mr. Baudin’s take a new turn?
At first, the teacher Rivail had no particular goal. It was then that he began to address the problems that interested him from the point of view of philosophy, psychology and the nature of the invisible world. He arrived at each session with a series of prepared questions and methodically arranged, which were always answered with precision, depth and logically. Since then the meetings showed another feature; among the public there were honest people, strongly interested, and so the futile questions were no longer appealing for the majority. At first, Kardec’s purpose was his own education. Later, when he saw that it was becoming a group and growing like a Doctrine, he decided to publish them for everybody’s education. These were the questions that, continuously developed and completed, made the basis of The Book of Spirits. (Posthumous Works - Part II - The first works).
161. When did Kardec meet Miss Japhet?
It was in 1856, when he also began to attend the Spiritist meetings held in Tiquetone Street, at Mr. Roustan’s. These meetings were serious and maintained orderly. Communications took place through Miss. Japhet, a medium, with the aid of a nozzle basket. The Professor’s work, at that time, was already almost completed, and it took the proportion of a book, but he intended to do it with the help of other Spirits, and different mediums. Then, he thought in making it the base of the studies at the meetings at Mr. Roustan’s. After a few sessions, the Spirits said they preferred to revise it in private and scheduled some days for him to work in particular with Miss. Japhet, more calmly and avoiding indiscretion and premature public comments. But he was not contented with only this checking; and so, every time the circumstances allowed him to be in contact with other mediums, he took this opportunity to present some of the thorniest questions. It was so that over ten mediums provided their collaboration to this work, and it was from the comparison and merging of all these answers, coordinated, classified, and many a times rephrased in the silence of meditation, that the first edition of The Book of Spirits was formed and published on April 18, 1857.
In that same year, the two Baudin ladies married, and the meetings stopped, and the family dispersed. But then Kardec’s relations increased and the Spirits multiplied, offering him the instruction means necessary to accomplish his further work. (Posthumous Works - Part II - The first works).
