“722. Is there any foundation in reason for the abstinence from certain aliments practiced among various peoples?

A. Whatever man can eat without injury to his health is permitted to him...”

“723. Is the use of animal food by man contrary to the law of nature?

A. With your physical constitution, flesh is useful for nourishing flesh; without this kind of sustenance man's strength declines. The law of preservation makes it a duty for man to keep up his health and strength, that he may fulfill the law of labor. He should therefore feed himself according to the requirements of his organization.”

However, contrary to “The Spirits’ Book”, Emmanuel in “The Consoler” shows his opinion on item 129:

“129. Is it wrong to eat meat?

A. Eating meat can incur in many consequences, in which derived countless vices of human eating habits. It is such a shame, even because, if the state of materiality of the creature requires the cooperation of certain vitamins, they can also be found in food of vegetal origin, with no necessity of slaughterhouses and abattoirs. 

We have to consider, though, the economic machine of interest and collective harmony, in which so many workers produce their daily bread. Their pieces cannot be disabled overnight, without consequences. Let’s comfort ourselves with the future, being fair to work, diligently, for the advent of the upcoming times when the terrestrial men will be able to live without the need of killing their minor brothers.”

Therefore, Emmanuel says that “eating meat can incur in many consequences”, but he admits that in that historical moment when the book  “The Consoler” came out (March 8, 1940) it would not be advisable, economy-wise and cultural-wise, a sudden change in eating habits.

Many can say that Emmanuel himself advised Chico Xavier to choose Allan Kardec and the Compilation over his ideas. However, this is not so simple. Really, Emmanuel is not alone in his position.  

The sentence “Flesh is useful for nourishing flesh” is quite interesting 

André Luiz in “The Messengers” (Chapter 41, “Among Trees” and Chapter 42, called “Gospel in the Rural Area”) and “Missionaries of Light” (Chapter 11, called “Intercession”), as well as Umberto de Campos in several books are against meat as a source of food. For these authors, the individual spiritually aware should, at least, eat less meat. It is interesting to recall that “Missionaries of Light” is considered one of the 10 most important Spiritist books of the 20th century in a recent poll.

At first, we would have a doctrinal deadlock, once that Kardec’s concept of the “Universality of Spirits teaching” tells us that evolved Spirits, with their mission to help evolve other creatures, as they transmit their information through mediums of good moral values ready to commit to mediumship, could never disagree in such critical points, for example, the consumption of meat. However, the topic is controversial and any misunderstanding can generate doubt in search of the truth.

Let’s analyze, firstly, the question on “The Spirits’ Book”. The famous quotation “Flesh is useful for nourishing flesh” (SB, 723) is an interesting sentence, but not quite clear. Really, this apparently “simple” answer given by the Spirits is focused, mainly, on the problem of eating meat and not on moral issues, which is the great topic of doctrinal discussion. In other words, we could infer that the question made between the lines by Allan Kardec talks about the moral aspect of the fact of killing animals to eat their meat than pros and cons of meat in a nutritional view.

This way, as we study this intricate topic, we have to admit two hypotheses. Either hunger in the world is so intense that, in such conditions, would justify eating meat or the Spirits, wisely, did not think interesting to give a definite answer to this question in a historical moment when the human being was definitely not ready to cut it out. Apparently, these two factors were considered so that the Spirits did not go any further in that.

Really, the previous question of “The Spirits’ Book” (SB, 722) is quite interesting for being subtle and also needs to be analyzed, because the “High Spirits” answer that “Whatever man can eat without injury to his health is permitted to him...”.  

Obesity has in animal fat one of its main causes 

Well, with the actual knowledge from a series of researches undertaken by doctors and other professionals, is well established that eating meat, especially red meat (mammals), has been considered one of the main factors for a countless number of diseases and deaths, like heart attack and several types of cancer, such as intestine cancer. And obesity, many times morbid, that has become a problem of public health all over the world. Indeed, obesity has in animal fat one of its main causes. That being, according to the new knowledge of science, meat is not as healthy as it was thought to be. Thus, meat not being so healthy, paradigm for many years, which would not be so correct, the comprehension of the answer “Whatever man can eat without injury to his health is permitted to him...” would be completely differentiated. To illustrate a point it is interesting to remember that some past generations considered the fat individual, mainly in childhood, as someone “strong”, healthy and the thin person, a weak citizen and mal nourished. The 80’s saw the famous song, whose chorus was “To eat, to eat! To eat, to eat! It is the best way to grow!” So, considering the alarming levels of “children obesity”, in the light of new scientific knowledge, we can say that, nowadays, such song would be called incorrect, to say the least!

In this context, it is necessary to quote a clear and objective text of the Revue Spirite of December, 1863. Besides, this article is the last text of that issue. The message is called “Eating habits”, being “signed” by the Spirit Lamennais, who, as we know, played a large role in the Compilation, contributing with several messages. In this one, we found an excerpt in which the aforementioned Mentor says: “The naturally strong tempers to live as the Anchorites live well, because forgetting meat leads to prayer and meditation more easily. But to live like this, it would be necessary a more spiritualized nature than yours...” Well, this text has, obviously, the support of Allan Kardec. Therefore, the “Compiler” was aware of the opinion of the Mentors, but certainly that who was called by Camille Flammarion as “the Common Sense incarnated” did not ignore that, definitely, 1863 did not represent a good time to discuss this topic, risking the Doctrine to be compromised by the attacks of others.

It’s worth remembering that the first edition of “The Spirits’ Book” (SB) came out before Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace’s evolution of species and natural selection. Really, “The Origin of Species” was combated by Church at that time, literally interpreting the “Old Testament”, which did not admit any sort of “relation” between man and the animals, ignoring that all living beings, not only humans, “were made in the image and likeness of God”. Moreover, “to embrace this ideology” before the right time, in which the human Spirit was ready for this divine truths, would be to condemn the Spiritist books to countless episodes similar to the so-called “Auto-de-fe of Barcelona”. 

Each intelligence, says Clarence, can only receive their fair share of truth 

Besides, to illustrate it’s worth mentioning that the publication of the first edition of “The Spirits’ Book” (SB) occurred more than 31 before the abolition of slavery in Brazil (The Heart of the World and the Country of the Gospel)! If we remember the Holocaust done by the Nazi in the early 40’s, the recent regime called “Apartheid” in South Africa or even racism in the US, mainly in the 60’s, but existing until now, we could ask: Would the human being who still rejects, sometimes, slaves and tortures the human being himself accept a message of fraternity which included our brothers animals 151 years ago?! Unfortunately, the answer is no! And, obviously, the High Spirits knew that!

It’s important to point out that the SB itself says that “too much light is not always good”. “The Mediums’ Book” (MB) itself explains that many times the High Spirits try to avoid our prejudice to give us useful information to our evolution. This is clear, for example, when André Luiz, followed by Hilário and the Minister Clarence, finds a nun in the chapter 34 called “On Duty of Help”, in the book “Between Earth and Heaven”. André Luiz and Hilário were surprised by the fact that she kept being Catholic in the Spirit-world and Minister Clarence says that “each intelligence can only receive their fair share of truth”. Thus, once more, we are taught that there is no violence in the educational process of evolution of the immortal Spirit and if it is like that for individuals, will be the same collectively. If the so-called “truth” is more damaging than “repairing”, the wise and loving mentors prefer to wait that we mature a bit more, before giving additional information. Jesus himself “promised the Comforter”, justifying that he had much more to say, but, on that occasion “we couldn’t bear any more”.

This study reminds us that the “Compilation” has said neither the first nor the last word. Indeed, the “Spiritist Doctrine” starts with “The Spirits’ Book”, but, obviously, does not finish with it. Spiritism evolves and Kardec was the first to defend this attitude of criticism and auto-criticism by Spiritist for true search of the divine laws. Furthermore, the High Spirits could not contradict themselves in the Revue Spirite, which is also part of the Compilation, according to Divaldo Pereira Franco. The problem of meat clearly shows our urgent necessity to study “The Spirits’ Book”, which is well beyond memorizing its questions without taking a closer look.

Great books like “The Animic Evolution” by Gabriel Delanne, “Genesis of the Soul” by Cairbar Schutel, “The Problem of Being, Destiny and Pain” by Leon Denis, “Evolution in Two Worlds” by André Luiz, among others, are clear when they refer to the necessity of the feeling of fraternity should also include the animals, once they are our “younger brothers”. Besides these books, we cannot forget the extraordinary book by Professor Irvênia Prada “The Spiritual Question of the Animals”, based on the books by Allan Kardec. Really, these renowned Spiritist authors by no means oppose “The Spirits’ Book” which shows the great teaching: “The atom will be an Angel, since the Angel once was an atom”. 

The consumption of meat, despite decreasing, increases hunger in the world 

It is also important to quote the contribution of the Australian philosopher and ecologist Peter Singer, who despite being materialist, says that as well as today we are ashamed by the centuries and centuries of slavery and racism, there will be a day when we will show remorse for our attitudes of “Specimism”, that is, a prejudice of species. Singer says that ill-treat animals for being more intelligent would be a way to indirectly justify murders of kids and adults with mental problems, which was the behavior of the Nazi in the 20th century. Besides, Peter Singer, as well as a countless number of researchers and ecologists have pointed out the raising animals to be slaughtered, specially cattle, as one of the activities that more influence the environment, destroying forests, decreasing the fertility of the soil, releasing Methane (which increases the green house effect) and consuming a huge quantity of vegetal resources (average, for an ox to generate a kilo of meat it should eat 10 kg of vegetables, which demonstrates that The consumption of meat, especially the red one, despite decreasing, increases hunger in the world). This information is extremely suggestive if we keep in mind Items 722 and 723 of the SB, which are inserted in the chapter, called “Law of Preservation”, which clearly includes the necessity of preserving the planet, which provides life to physical bodies! Furthermore, the reflection: If even a materialistic author has such consideration for the animals, how should the attitude of Jesus’ disciples, linked to the “Comforter” promised by him?!

Many Spiritist who eat meat defend this habit simply to develop a false attempt to justify to the society and, mainly, to their own conscience, because they can’t keep away from doing so. Well, such stance definitely does not correspond to an attitude of Spiritist conscience, based on rational faith. It would be the same if a murderer who considered himself Christian started preaching murder as a new evangelic “interpretation” only to explain such procedure. Is a doctor who smokes or drinks going to teach that such habit is good for our health?! A mother who practiced an abortion preaches that it is correct according to the Gospel and Spiritism trying to fool herself?! The awareness of right and wrong is the first step, regret comes next and a dynamic attitude of love, “which covers the crowd of sins”, is the position expected from those who “knew the Truth so that Truth free them” from the mistakes!

There is one thing to know, though: What to do?!

It is fundamental an attitude of Spiritist conscience, but also common sense, with no radicalism or extremism, according to Emmanuel in “The Consoler”. “Knowing the truth” is the first step so that “it may free us” from mistakes that started in previous centuries. However, such “release” requires time, patience, discipline and slow and gradual conditioning. Thus, our proposal should be, at first, decrease the consumption of meat, planning with education and work a future, maybe near, in which we will treat our little brothers as Jesus teaches, it means, with love.