Does the soul sleep in the mineral kingdom?  Part 2 and final

The idea of the soul of the earth, understood in this sense, as well as that of the Earth that makes an animal should therefore be aligned amongst the systematic and chimerical concepts. (KARDEC, 1993a, p. 261-262).

Out of the arguments by Kardec, we emphasize four points: a) he establishes a difference between the molecular motion of attraction and repulsion, aggregation and disaggregation of the mineral and the vital principle of the plant, which is a way to differentiate them in the aspect that they have life, b) that the principle of life does not have the same source as the molecular motion nor as the intelligent principle or c) that a pebble [1] or a piece of iron have the power to think, to will and to understand; d) that the progress of intelligence is an attribute of the beings of the organic level, from the polyp to man, being thus out of this law inorganic beings, among which are the minerals. For us, they only corroborate what we have said about the intelligent principle not going on probation in the mineral.

There is, of course, one common thing to all three kingdoms - mineral, vegetable and animal - it is that in all of them the elements that form their matter are the same, varying, of course, in their combinations.

Discussing about the spiritual fluids, Kardec ponders:

All binds together in the work of creation. Once one thought of the Three Kingdoms as entirely independent of each other, and one would have been laughed at if he had wanted to find a correlation between the mineral and vegetable, between the vegetable and animal. Close observation has removed the solution of continuity, and prove that all bodies form an unbroken chain, such that the three kingdoms do not exist, as a matter of fact, but due to the most striking general characteristics; but regarding their respective boundaries they are confounded to the point that it is hard to tell where one ends and another begins, and in which certain beings should be classified, such are, for example, the zoophytes or animal plants, so called because they present characteristics of an animal and a plant at the same time.

The same thing takes place with respect to the composition of bodies. 

All natural bodies are formed with the same elements 

For a long time, the four elements were the basis of the natural sciences; they have fallen before the discoveries of modern chemistry, who recognized an undetermined number of simple bodies. Chemistry shows all natural bodies formed of these elements combined in various proportions; it is from the endless variety of these combinations that innumerable properties of the different bodies are born.[...]

All natural bodies, minerals, plants, animals, animate or inanimate, solid, liquid or gaseous, are thus formed of the same elements, combined to produce the infinite variety of different bodies, science goes further today; their investigations lead gradually to the great law of unity. Now it is almost generally accepted that the bodies are not only reputed simple modifications, transformations of a single element, called a universal principle in the name of ether, or universal or cosmic fluid, such that, according to the mode of aggregation of molecules of this fluid, and under the influence of particular circumstances, it acquires special properties that make up the simple bodies; such simple bodies, interconnected in various proportions, form, as we have mentioned, the innumerable variety of compound bodies. According to this view, heat, light, electricity and magnetism are but also modifications of the universal primitive fluid. Thus, this fluid which, in all likelihood, is imponderable, would be both the principle of the imponderable fluids and the ponderable bodies.(Kardec, 1993b, p. 66-69) (emphasis added).

So here, we have what binds the three kingdoms of nature: the chemical elements that exist in the matter of which they are formed. 

There are ties that bind the mineral to the vegetable, the vegetable to the animal and to man 

Consider now two exerpts from the works by Allan Kardec, in which the issue of the intelligent principle having passed through the mineral kingdom is mentioned.

The first we will find in the Spiritist Magazine 1865, in a message received in Paris, whose spiritual writer is not stated: I will address a serious issue tonight, speaking to you of relationships which may exist between animality and humanity.[...]

But it is not enough to think only in the constant progress of the Spirit, embryo in the matter and which develops by passing through the alembic of the mineral, vegetable, animal, in order to reach the humanity, where it only begins to rehearse the soul that will embody, proud of its task, inhumanity. There are important links between these different phases necessary to be known and which I will call intermediate or latent periods; because that is where the successive transformations are carried out. I will tell you later about the ties that bind the mineral to the vegetable, the vegetable to the animal as a surprising phenomenon that leads you to links that connect the animal to man, I shall entertain you with the latter.

Among domestic animals and man, the affinities are produced by the fluidic loads that surround you, and fall on them; it is a little humanity that dwells upon animality, without changing the colours of one or the other. Hence, the smart superiority of the dog over the brutal instincts of the wild beast, and this is the only cause that may be due to these events that you have just read. It is not therefore a mistake when one hears a joyful cry of the animal and knowing his master's cares, and coming, before moving to an intermediate state of development to another, bring you a memory. The expression can therefore occur, but it is momentaneous, because the animal in order to climb a step must annihilate through a latent work, for all, every outward sign of life. This state is where the spiritual chrysalis develops the soul, amorphous perispirit, bearing no reproductive figure of traits, breaking into a state of maturity, to let escape in the currents that carry them the germs of souls that hatch there. It would be therefore difficult for us to speak to you of the spirits of animals in space; it does not exist, or rather, its passage is so fast as it could be considered void, and that the state of chrysalis, they could not be described (Kardec, 2000, p. 132-133) (emphasis added). 

The Spirit of man, before coming to humanity climbs all the steps of the scale 

At the beginning it has been true as the soul's progress in the three kingdoms; however, it seemed contradictory when he said that, "this state is where the spiritual chrysalis develops the soul," because he was referring only to the animal kingdom, a subject he proposed to address. He promises to, eventually, speak of the relationship between the mineral and the vegetable and from the latter to the animal, which, unfortunately, he did not.

Kardec, in commenting on this post, cautiously says:

When we have gathered all the relevant documents, we will summarize them in a systematic body of doctrine to be submitted to the universal control; until then, there are but beacons located on the way to lighten it (Kardec, 2000, p. 133-134). (Emphasis added).

The second, we have taken it from the letter written by Dr Charles Gregory, ardent supporter of Spiritism, to Kardec, who at one point in his defence of homeopathy, expresses this view:

And then, as I believe that the Spirit of man, before becoming incarnate in humanity, rises every step of the ladder and go through the mineral, the plant and the animal and in most types of each species which preludes its full development as human beings, who tells me, giving it medically what is no longer neither the mineral, nor the plant nor the animal, but what might be called its essence, its spirit of some sort, do not act on the human soul composed of the same elements? Because, it ought to be said, the spirit is quite something, and once developed and constantly develops, it had to take these elements from somewhere (Kardec, 1999, p. 169). (Emphasis added).

As he quite often did, Kardec has not failed to make his comments to the letter. The observations by Dr Charles, as to Homeopathy, were considered relevant. However, at the end of his remarks, the codifier puts it:

The facts are more conclusive than the theories and it is the facts what confirm or overthrow the theories 

In short, we do not contest that certain medicines, and homeopathy more than any other, do not produce some of the effects listed, but we do not to dispute but the more permanent results, and especially the so universal ones that some would claim them to be.A case in which homeopathy, above all, seemed particularly applicable with success, is the pathological madness, for here the moral disorder is the result of physical disorder, and is now found, by observation of spiritist phenomena, that the Spirit is not mad; it does not have to be modify, but given the means to express itself freely. The action of homeopathy can be herein as much more effective as it acts mainly by the spiritual nature of their elements on the perispirit, which plays a fundamental role in this disease.

We would have more than one objection to make on some of the propositions contained in this letter, but this would lead us further away; we are content, therefore, in putting up the two opposite opinions. As with everything, the facts are more conclusive than the theories, and they are the ones, ultimately, to confirm or overthrow the latter, we ardently wish that Doctor Gregory publishes a special practical treaty on applied homeopathy to the treatment of moral disease, so that the experiment may be generalized and decide the issue. More than any other, he seems able to do this work as an expert (Kardec, 1999, p. 171-172) (emphasis added).

I honestly believe that "more than one objection" by Kardec had intended the belief that the human soul in its ascent towards the ultimate goal, passes through the three kingdoms, taking into account all that we have seen, in his works, his way of thinking.

We can still find something dealing with the mineral kingdom as "creature": This fluid penetrates the body, like a vast ocean. This is where the vital principle lies which gives rise to and perpetuates the life of beings in each world, according to its conditions, a principle that in a latent state, is kept asleep where the voice of a being does not call it. Every creature, mineral, vegetable, animal or any other - because there are many other natural kingdoms, of whose existence you do not even suspect, know, due to this vital and universal principle, how to take hold of the conditions of its existence and its duration.

The molecules of the mineral has a certain amount of life, just as the embryo seed, and gather, such as the body, in symmetrical figures that constitute individualities. 

God, as we know, has always created, constantly creates and never ceases to create 

It is very important that we realize the notion that the primitive cosmic matter was covered, not only by the laws that ensure the stability of the worlds, but also by the universal vital principle that forms spontaneous generations in each world as they have the conditions of successive existence of the creatures, and when the time comes for the rise of the children of life during the creative period.

It is, thus, made the universal creation. It is, therefore, accurate to say that, being the operations of Nature the expression of the divine will, God has always created, constantly creates and never ceases to create. (Kardec, 2007b, p. 135-136).

The problem that lies here is that Kardec was keen to say that "This chapter is extracted verbatim from a series of communications dictated to the Spiritist Society of Paris in 1862 and 1863 under the title "Uranographic Studies " and signed by Galileo. Medium: C.F."(Kardec, 2007b, p. 121). Which leads us to believe that, in this way, he makes it clear that there was no Universal Control of the Spirits Teaching, so the matter should be treated as a hypothesis, not as doctrinal truth.

As we have found out, this hypothesis was probably taken out of the books In a Larger World and Evolution in Two Worlds, from the André Luiz series. We will not be the ones to dispute this author, however, perhaps daring, we may question him on the following statement: "The chrysalis of conscience that lies in the crystal, rolling down in the river flow, is there found in the redeeming process;..." (Xavier, 1984, p.45). As a crystal, which rolls on the bed of a river, "dies" so that the chrysalis, which is possibly in it, may move on to the next stage of evolution? When we use these crystals, embedding them on the walls of our homes, the chrysalis would be stuck there for good? We must protect the crystals as we are trying to do in relation to living beings from other realms of nature? These are some questions that we could pose to Andre Luiz.

These are the reasons why we are reluctant to accept such premise, which, if we are not mistaken, is not the one we find in the Codification Books either.

Thus we align ourselves with other authors, already acclaimed amongst the Spiritists, who have already responded to the question of this essay with a resounding no in reply. 

Bibliographic references: 

DENIS L. O Problema do Ser, do Destino e da Dor (The Problem of Being, Destiny and Pain). Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1989.

KARDEC, A. Genesis. Araras-SP: IDE, 1993.

KARDEC, A. The Spirits' Book - First Edition 1857. Itaim Bibi, SP: IPEC, 2004.

KARDEC, A. The Spirits' Book.Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007.

Kardec Spiritist Magazine A. 1865. Araras, SP: IDE, 2000a.

Kardec Spiritist Magazine A. 1866. Araras, SP: IDE, 1993b.

Kardec Spiritist Magazine A. 1868. Araras, SP: IDE, 1993a.

Xavier, F.C. Evolução em Dois Mundos (Evolution in Two Worlds). Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1987.

Xavier, FC No Mundo Maior (In the larger world). Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1984.

NETO SOBRINHO, P.S. A alma dos animais: estágio anterior da alma humana? (The souls of animals: early stage of the human soul?) '. Divinópolis-MG: Panorama Espirita (Spiritist Panorama), 2006.

(The original version of this article was published in the Journal Spiritism and Science, Year 4, No. 46, p. 29-32.)

[1] Houaiss: piece, a fragment of rock.