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"The enlightened Spiritist repels that blind enthusiasm,
observes coldly and calmly, and thus avoids being a
victim of illusions and mystifications." (ALLAN KARDEC)
In the Spiritist environment we find confreres who see
the works of the Spiritist Codification, which Allan
Kardec (1804-1869) published, as containing everything
about Spiritism; for them it is as if the Master of Lyon
had already put an end to it, therefore, nothing more
would have to be added.
Friends of the Association of Spiritism Publishers of
Sao Paulo inform us (1) that, in the
“Research for Spiritists 2019”, undertaken by confrere
Ivan Franzolim, 81.5% of the respondents said that
Spiritism has all the explanations about the Spirit,
reincarnation and the Natural Laws, therefore, the
situation is much more serious than we initially
thought.
This superficial view, which shows that they have little
doctrinal knowledge, is easily overturned with some
considerations made by the Encoder, throughout his
works. We will mention some of them in chronological
order.
1) The Book of Mediums, January 1861:
[…]
Furthermore, many people think that The
Book of Spirits exhausted the
series of questions of morals and philosophy. It is a
mistake. That is why we find it useful to indicate the
source from which study subjects can be drawn, so to
speak unlimited. (2) (emphasis added)
The sources to which Allan Kardec refers are the
Superior Spirits and the ordinary ones, here in the
sense of common, with which we still have much to learn.
2) Spiritist Magazine 1864,
April:
Higher spirits proceed,
in their revelations, with extreme wisdom; they do
not address the great questions of the Doctrine only
gradually, as the intelligence is able to understand the
truths of a higher order, and the circumstances are
favorable for the emission of a new idea. That is
why, from the beginning, they did not say everything,
and they have not said everything today, never
giving in to the impatience of people in a hurry, who
want to reap the rewards before their maturity. […].
(3) (emphasis added)
3) Spiritist Magazine 1865, February
(first two transcripts) and October (last transcript):
But, it will be said, beside these facts [referring to
Spiritist manifestations] you have a theory, a
doctrine; who can say that this theory will not
change; that today’s will be the same in a few
years?
Undoubtedly, it can undergo changes in its details, as a
result of new observations. But since the principle is
now acquired, it cannot vary and even less be annulled;
there is the essential. Since
Copernicus and Galileo, the movement of the Earth and
the stars was better calculated, but the fact of the
movement remained with the principle. (4)
(emphasis added)
[…]
The gaps that the current theory may still close will
fill in the same way. Spiritism is far from having
said the last word, as to its consequences, but it is
unshakable in its base, because this base is based on
the facts. (5)
(emphasis added)
[…] This
teaching is not yet complete, and we can only consider
what it has given us up to today as the first steps of
science; it can be compared to the four rules in
relation to mathematicians, and we are not in it yet
except in the equations of the first degree; it is
because many people still do not understand its
importance nor its scope. […].
(6) (emphasis added)
4) Spiritist Magazine 1866, July:
The Book of Spirits is not a complete treatise on
Spiritism;
it does nothing but lay the foundations and fundamental
points for it, which must be developed successively
through study and observation. (7)
(emphasis added)
5) Spiritist
Magazine 1867, April:
[…]
Spiritism has not yet said its last word, far from it,
no more about physical things than about spiritual
things. Many of the discoveries will be the result of
further observations. Spiritism has not done, in any
way, until the present, but to place the first steps of
a science the importance of which is unknown. With
the help of what it has already discovered, it opens the
way for investigations in a special order of ideas to
those who will come after us. It proceeds only
through observations and deductions. If a fact is found,
it is said that it must have a cause, and that this
cause can only be natural, and then it seeks it. In the
absence of a categorical demonstration, it can give a
hypothesis, but until confirmation, it only gives it as
a hypothesis, and not as an absolute truth. […].
(8) (emphasis added)
6) The Genesis, published in January 1868:
In addition, it should be noted that nowhere has
Spiritist teaching been fully provided. It
encompasses such a large number of observations, from
subjects so diverse, that require special mediumistic
knowledge and skills, so that it would be impossible to
meet all the necessary conditions at the same point. […].
Thus, the disclosure is made partially, in different
places and by a multitude of intermediaries. In this
way, it continues now, since not everything has been
revealed. […]. (9) (emphasis
added)
[…] Advancing with progress, Spiritism will never
be overcome, because if new discoveries prove to be in
error at a certain point, it will change on that point.
If a new truth is revealed, it accepts it. (10)
(italics in the original, bold added)
7) Spiritist Magazine 1868, December:
Although Spiritism has not yet said its last word on all
points, it approaches its complement, and the moment is
not far away when it will be necessary to give it a
strong and long-lasting base, susceptible, however,
to receive all the developments that the subsequent
circumstances entail, and giving total assurance to
those who wonder who will take over the reins after us.
(11) (emphasis added)
The Doctrine program will therefore not be immutable
except on the principles passed on to the state of
verified truths;
for others, it will not admit them, as it always has, except
as a hypothesis until confirmed. If it is shown that
it is in error regarding a certain issue, it will change
on that point. (12) (emphasis added)
Note, dear reader, that approximately four months before
Allan Kardec disincarnated, he still claimed that
Spiritism was not complete, that he could "receive all
the developments that the subsequent circumstances
entail."
In After Death, authored by Leon Denis
(1846-2027), we find a paragraph that confirms all this:
The doctrine of Allan Kardec, born
- it would not be too much to repeat it - from
methodical observation, rigorous experience, cannot
become a definitive, immutable system, outside and above
the future conquests of Science. A combined result
of the knowledge of two worlds, of two humanities
penetrating each other, but which are both imperfect and
both march towards the truth and the unknown, the
Doctrine of Spirits is constantly transformed by work
and progress and, although superior to all systems, to
all philosophies of the past, remains open to
rectifications, clarifications of the future. (13)
(emphasis added)
This argument by Leon Denis was a great surprise for us,
because it demonstrates that since 1889, the publication
date of the work, we already have the warning not to
have Spiritism as a finished and ready-made product.
We assume that it is very clear, for all of us, that we
should not and cannot close the Codification in order to
consider as a doctrinal point only what it contains. If
we do so, we will not follow the guidelines of Allan
Kardec, and we will also be behaving in the same manner
as the traditional Christians who consider the divine
revelation to what appears in the Bible, even in the
face of the clarity of this speech of Jesus: “I still
have much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now.
When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will lead you to the
full truth, […].” (John 16: 12-13)
We are fully convinced that Spiritist scholars know that
in order to accept something new, we must follow the
guidance of Allan Kardec as to pass everything through
the sieve of universal agreement, as can be seen from
the article Universal Control of Spirit Teaching,
published in the Spiritist Magazine 1864:
[…] The instructions given by the Spirits on the points
of the Doctrine not yet elucidated, could not make law,
while they are isolated; that
they should, therefore, not be accepted except under all
reservations and for information. (14)
(emphasis added)
Universal opinion, then, is the supreme judge, the one
who ultimately decides;
it is formed from all individual opinions; if one of
them is true, it has only its relative weight on the
scale; if it is false, it cannot impose itself on all
others. In this immense contest, the individualities are
erased, and there is a new failure for human pride. (15)
(emphasis added)
For didactic purposes, we can summarize the Universal
Control of the Teaching of Spirits - CUEE in three
fundamental points, which are:
1st control: logic and reason (16);
2nd control: the unanimous opinion of the majority of
Spirits (17);
3rd control: agreement of the disclosures made
spontaneously by a large number of mediums, strangers to
each other and in several countries (18).
Thus, if we are in favor of common sense and logic, we
must have an open mind for new revelations, obviously,
without departing from the indispensable evaluation
criterion provided by Allan Kardec as a basis for
considering something as a new doctrinal principle, that
is, to pass everything through the sieve of the
Universal Control of the Teaching of Spirits.
In The Spirit and Time, Jose Herculano
Pires (1914-1979), details in a different way the points
of Universal Control that must be observed in new
revelations:
[…]
It is good to remember the rule of “universal
consensus”, according
to which no human spirit or creature has, by themselves,
the resources and knowledge to make personal revelations
to us. This type of individual revelation belongs to the
past, to the times before the advent of the Doctrine. A
new teaching, the revelation of a “new
truth” depends
on the doctrinal requirements of:
a) Universal agreement of manifestations in this
respect;
b) Agreement of the issue with the basic principles of
the Doctrine;
c) Agreement with the cultural principles of the
knowledge stage reached by our world;
d) Agreement with the
rational, logical and logistical principles of our time.
(19) (emphasis
added)
We cannot fail to take into account new revelations,
because, as we have seen, Jesus himself said to his
disciples: “I
still have much to tell you; but you cannot bear it now. (John
16:12), with this we know that divine revelation is
essentially progressive. Therefore, Spiritism should not
even be considered a revelation that contains an end,
because, certainly, there will be other revelations
that, in time and space, will be compatible with the
progress achieved by Humanity.
Notes:
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