The Revue Spirite of 1862

Part 9

We continue in  this issue the study of the Revue Spirite corresponding to the year of 1862. The condensed text of the mentioned volume will hereby be presented in sixteen parts, based on the translation of Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL.

Issues for discussion

A. Is homogeneity an important factor for the Spiritist Doctrine?

B. How did the Spirit of Bernardin associate Spiritism and Christianity?

C. What are the factors that most contribute to suicide?

Text for reading

91. David, through Mrs. Dozon, describes the last picture of Ingres, which portrays the baby Jesus among the Temple doctors. The work, says Lamennais, was inspired by spirituality to the incarnate artist. (Pages 173-176)

92. The Revue denounces a report by a priest regarding the millions that Kardec received by using Spiritism. The Encoder refutes the accusation and says that the first edition of The Book of Spirits was at his own risk, because no editor wanted to take charge of it. The work rendered him about 500 francs. (Pages 176-180)

93. Kardec says that the Vienna Spiritist Society, which had just entered its third year, appointed him its honorary president. Plans to spread Spiritism through a German newspaper are mentioned in the Revue. (Pages 180 and 181)

94. Commenting on the subject, Kardec applauds the course adopted by the confreres of Vienna and says that he accepted the honor given to him, in which he saw not a tribute to his person, but to the regenerating principles of Spiritism. (P. 182)

95. E. Collignon writes to Kardec protesting against the words used in April / 1862 by the Spirit of Gerard de Codemberg, who referred to the brethren who turn away from Spiritism by calling them filthy sheep. (P. 183)

96. Kardec recognized that Gerard expressed himself perhaps a little crudely, but the bottom of his thought is correct, because homogeneity is the vital principle of any society or Spiritist meeting. (Pages 183-185)

97. The Revue then publishes a message of the Spirit of Bernardin, received by E. Collignon (the same one who had protested against the words of Gerard de Codemberg), in which the communicant asks that the false, curious, and unbeliever brothers be excluded from the Spiritist works, thus aiming exactly at the homogeneity necessary to the Spiritist groups. Bernardin, in this message, also says: I - Spiritism is not a new religion, but the consecration of this universal religion whose foundations were cast by Christ. II - It is necessary to leave the dark paths, full of precipices, to enter the path that leads to happiness. III - Our future destiny is in our hands: the duration of our trials depends entirely on us. IV - To be a martyr one does not have to be a pasture of the beasts: let us be martyrs of ourselves, destroying all our carnal instincts, studying our inclinations, tastes and ideas, distrusting everything that our conscience fails. V - Spiritism, from the religious point of view, is only the confirmation of Christianity. (Pages 186 to 188)

98. Opening the July 1862 issue, Kardec shows how everything in life changes when, by thought, man leaves the narrow valley of his earthly life and rises in the radiant, splendid and immeasurable life beyond the grave. In so doing, earthly life will be seen as a passing season and the misfortunes it offers us will become more bearable. Such is the result of the difference of the point of view under which one looks at life: one gives us shambles and anxiety; the other, calmness and serenity. (Pages 191 to 195)

99. Kardec, analyzing the news about the increase in suicides in France, says that it is simple to attribute all of them to monomania, which according to Mr. Gastineau seems to have taken over the human species. If there are suicides due to monomania, there are also, according to Kardec, voluntary suicides, carried out with forethought and full knowledge of the cause. (Pages 196 to 198)

100. In the absence of an official statistics, Kardec says that it is right to think that the most numerous cases are determined by the setbacks of fortune, the disappointments and sorrows of various kinds. In these cases, suicide is not an act of madness, but of desperation, and the publicity given to it competes for its increase. (Pages 198 and 199)

101. Concluding his thought, Kardec says that, however, the main causes that lead to suicide are incredulity, doubt about the future, and materialistic ideas, because they give moral cowardice and this leads one to commit suicide. (Pages 199 to 202) (Continues on next issue.)

Answers to the issues

A. Is homogeneity an important factor for the Spiritist Doctrine?

Yes. Homogeneity is, according to Kardec, the vital principle of any society or Spiritist meeting. (Revue Spirite of 1862, pages 183-185).

B. How did the Spirit of Bernardin associate Spiritism and Christianity?

In a message copied by the Revue, Bernardin says that Spiritism is not a new religion, but the consecration of this universal religion whose foundations were cast by Christ. And, from the religious point of view, it is only the confirmation of Christianity. (Ibid, pages 186-188)

C. What are the factors that most contribute to suicide?

Lacking an official statistic, Kardec says that it is fair to think that more numerous cases are determined by the reversals of fortune, the disappointments and sorrows of various types. But indisputably, unbelief, doubt about the future, and materialistic ideas are those that mostly lead to suicide, because they give moral cowardice that leads one to kill himself. (Ibid, pages 198-202.)

Translation:

Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br