The last book of Kardec

The book Posthumous Work was published 120 years ago in Paris, 21 years after Allan Kardec’s death. It is the ultimate book of the encoder of Spiritism and has a collection of articles and personal notes which have not been published in any other books.

Altough the book has been published a long time ago, the content is still very pertinent. It seems that Kardec has just written it, in view of the political evolution the world has experienced in the last 25 years.

In the book Kardec says that the base of society is not liberty nor equality, but fraternity. This is an allusion to the French Revolution motto, which happened 100 years before the book’s publication. In this book, the encoder focus on social and political matters. 

Kardec wrote that fraternity is in the first row: it is the base, and without this base equality and liberty cannot exist. Equality is a result of fraternity and liberty is a consequence of both. 

What Kardec  wrote means, in simple words, that a serious civilization needs to have, first of all, the sentiment of fraternity. If everybody is fraternal with each other, equality will naturally appear and consequently real liberty, and not only legal, because no one will have reasons to fear each other’s action; which certainly is very different of what happens today where houses seem like fortresses, surrounded by walls and electrified rails. 

One of its chapters, "The aristocracy," is an interesting study about the evolution of the structures of power.  According to the encoder, it will culminate with the advent of an intellect-moral aristocracy, which will last because it will be based on feelings of justice and charity, together with wisdom. 

In the second part of the book, Kardec tells about his initiation in Spiritism and the most relevant actions which lead to the Spiritist codification. In this part of the book it is included the Project 1868, which is an important document elaborated by Kardec in order to disseminate and establish the Spiritist Doctrine. 

Following the Project, the book presents a long article about the Spiritist Constitution and lastly, in the article “Spiritist Creed”, Kardec makes important considerations about the influence of the spiritist ideas and the social issues, where the encoder clearly explains his thoughts about this subject. 

Kardec wrote: "No matter how good a social institution may be, if men are evil, they will distort it and deform its spirit, to take advantage of it. When men are good, they will organise good institutions, which will last, because everyone will be interested in preserving them”. 

It is known that Allan Kardec wrote numerous works, of which at least eight are mandatory reading for all who wish to educate themselves about Spiritism. Posthumous Works is one of them. Read, study and meditate about it will be benefitial for all who are willing to do so. Nobody doubts that. (1) 

(1)The Spiritist Study Group “Abel Gomes”, which is part of the Spiritist Centre “Nosso Lar” (Our Home/The Astral City), from Londrina –Parana, has begun the study of the above mentioned book on the 09th November – Tue (18h30)  and Thu (14h30).