Sometimes we hear Spiritist speakers, who are well intentioned but, unfortunately, not so well informed. Thus, they talk about things, which are nonsense and, therefore, painful to hear. We are specifically referring to the evolution of beings, and we heard a certain speaker, considered of great knowledge, say that Kardec anticipated Darwin regarding the evolution of species.

We were speechless such was our surprise, because, in our opinion, Kardec used Darwin's theory, as we will demonstrate.

From the book Evolution: from Atom to Archangel, a publication of the Spiritist Federation of Rio Grande do Sul, we copy:

The idea of an evolutionary chaining with no solution of continuity, linking other beings to man appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century, with the publication of two important contemporary works. One of them is The Book of Spirits by Allan Kardec, in 1857. This work presents evolution as an ongoing spiritual process, which includes all beings and man, being man "just the last link in the animal chain on Earth" (Genesis, chapter 10, item 29). The other one is The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859, which seeks to explain the evolution of species within a biological scale, including man, however with certain restrictions, because, as we know, the Darwinian Theory encountered and still encounters a great opposition from the Christian Churches. (PAIM, 2013, page 142, emphasis added.)

Firstly, we would like to apologize to the author Zoe Mary Saraiva Paim, by mentioning her book, which was published under the approval of the Spiritist Federation of Rio Grande do Sul, but we needed some concrete evidence to address this issue. We have no intention whatsoever of belittling this work or its author. Our purpose is to help and clarify this matter, so we can have an exact idea of the events.

We have noticed that no one pays due attention to a key point between the works of Allan Kardec and Charles Darwin. The first was published on April 18, 1857, and the second on November 22, 1859. Spiritists scholars do not notice that the current 1019 questions from The Book of Spirits is the second edition, dated March, 1860. Only then did Kardec address the spiritual evolution. He did not mention it in the first edition, dated 1857, with 501 questions. In the 1857 edition the information is even opposite to the one we have in the second edition. Therefore, there is a difference regarding this matter in the 1st and in the 2nd edition of The Book of Spirits.  

Further on the author states again:

[...] We have had occasion to point out, when talking about the evolutionary theory, that there is a correlation between the release of The Book of Spirits, in 1857, and the publication of Darwin's work, The Origin of Species, two years later. They complement each other. The first anticipates the biological evolution of Darwin and places it as resulting from spiritual evolution.

At the end of the Introduction of "The Book of Spirits," Kardec wrote, "If you look at the series of beings, one finds that they form a chain with no continuity solution, from the raw material to the most intelligent man. However, between man and God, from Alpha to Omega of all things, what a huge gap there is. Is it logic to think that the links of this chain end with man and that he carries with no transition the distance, which separates him from the infinite?" (Page 47). Therefore, Kardec had already presented, at the beginning of his work, the evolutionary character of the Doctrine of the Spirits. [...]. (PAIM, 2013, pages 3378 to 338, emphasis added).

The problem here is that the lack of attention did not allow the author to realize that this passage from the Introduction of The Book of Spirits, which she mentions, only appears in the second edition, March 1860. Therefore, Kardec's remark only appeared after the publication of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, contrary to what is said often, that Kardec anticipated the "Darwinian Theory", without paying attention to the chronology of the issues.

What the Spirits said, in the first edition, makes this quite clear:

127 - Was not man's soul the origin of the last living beings, and then, through a progressive law, arrived to Man, passing by the several steps of the organic scale?  

"No! No! We are men since we are born".

"Everything advances in its kind and in its essence; man has never been anything but a man". (KARDEC, 2004, page 65, emphasis added.)

Kardec's comments:

127 - Whatever is the diversity of lives through which our Spirit or our soul pass, they all belong to Mankind. It would be a mistake to believe that, due to a progressive law, man passed by different degrees of the organic scale to reach his current state. Therefore, his soul could not have been, before the beginning of life, a soul of the last living beings of creation to reach then the top level, Mankind. (Kardec, 2004, page 65, emphasis added.)  

Kardec and the Spirits' agree that the human Spirit never passed through the various kingdoms of nature to reach the current stage: the hominal. What was accepted at the time of the first edition was that progress - intellectual and moral - happened by means of reincarnation; however, the human Spirit always incarnated and reincarnated in human bodies.

In the second edition, Kardec questions the Spirits about this information, which was included in the first edition too. Let us see the answers to some questions regarding this subject:

607. You said (190) that the state of man's soul, in its origin, corresponds to the state of his childhood in bodily life, and that his intelligence only blooms and is tested for life. Where does the Spirit pass this first phase of its development?

"In a series of lives prior to the period that you call Mankind."

607 a) - It seems that one can thus consider the soul, as having been the intelligent principle of the inferior beings of creation, is it not?

"Have we not said that everything in nature is linked and tends to unity? In these beings, which you do not know all, is where the intelligent principle is elaborated, individualizes slowly and rehearses for life, as we have said. It is, in a sense, a preparatory work, such as germination, through which the intelligent principle undergoes, and is transformed and becomes a Spirit. Then it enters the period of humanization, beginning to be aware of its future, ability to distinguish goodness from evil, and becomes responsible for its acts. Thus, the stage of adolescence follows childhood, and then youth and maturity.  

In this origin there is something that demeans man. Will the great geniuses feel belittled because they were shapeless fetuses in wombs in which they were generated? What is humiliating is their inferiority before God and their inability to probe the depth of His designs, and to appreciate the wisdom of the laws governing the harmony of the Universe. Recognize the greatness of God in this admirable harmony, by which everything is supportive in Nature. To believe that God has made anything without a purpose, and created intelligent beings with no future, would be to blaspheme of His goodness, which extends over all His creatures".

607 b) Does this period of humanization begin on Earth?

"The Earth is not the starting point of the first human incarnation. The humanization period usually begins in worlds inferior to Earth. This, however, is not an absolute rule, because it may be that a Spirit, since its human beginning, is able to live on Earth. This is not often, and it is rather an exception".

(Kardec, 2007a, 336-337, emphasis added.)

There is no doubt that the intelligent principle, which is found in the hominal kingdom today, came via evolutionary progress, having experiences in lower kingdoms, in the mentioned situation of the above question, in the animal kingdom. We recommend the reader to read questions and answers 608 to 611, which complete what we presented hereby.

The conclusion we reached is exactly the opposite of what they say. For us, it was Kardec who took advantage of the Theory of Evolution of Darwin to return to the subject and, since there was a scientific support, the Spirits were more explicit on the matter, reformulating what was previously stated, to confirm the evolution of the spirit through the animal kingdom. Remembering what Jesus said in John 16:12: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear it now."

It is our opinion that for us to understand it was necessary to have a scientific support so that we could understand the information.

On the other hand, Kardec also made it clear that: "[...] Walking hand in hand with progress, Spiritism shall never be outdated, because if new findings show it to be in error about any point, it will change regarding this issue. If a new truth is revealed, it will accept it. "(KARDEC, 2007ed, page 54). This demonstrates that Spiritism shall accept new scientific truths, of course, according to Christian moral and ethical principles.
 

Bibliographic reference:

Kardec, A. Genesis. Rio de Janeiro: FEB (BSF), 2007 edition.

Kardec, A. The Book of Spirits - First Edition 1857 Sao Paulo: IPECE, 2004.

Kardec, A. The Book of Spirits. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007a.

Paim, Z. M. S. Evolution: from Atom to Archangel. Porto Alegre: Francisco Spinelli, 2013.

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Charles_Robert_Darwin_by_John_Collier-crop.jpg, accessed 29/08/2013 at 16h44.