The followers of Spiritism need to have a certain perceptiveness regarding the correct interpretation of the Doctrine, as well as the habit of reflecting about its postulates, so that the Spiritist understands the fundamentals of the Doctrine as they were delivered to us by the Benefactors of Humanity, 157 years ago. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately study and understand the Spiritist teachings, mainly those that comprise the Coding. This is not easy, because the fundamental principles of the Doctrine [God, the immortality of the soul, the plurality of the inhabited worlds, reincarnation, communication with the Spirits] may even be simple to assimilate, but the Doctrine as a whole is a science, and in the words of Kardec, cannot be studied playfully, given the complexity and grandeur of the issues that are dealt with. 

Thus, it is necessary that the second teaching given by the Spirit of Truth: "educate yourselves", which we found in The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter VI, item V, be put into practice so that the accuracy of the Spiritist postulates is guaranteed. We are not suggesting that a Spiritist needs to have an academic degree. It is not this, but it is required that the Doctrine be consistent and if we do this we will have a minimum of coherence when teaching and this is very important, especially in the planetary transition times that we experience today.

With the advent of the psychographic messages recorded by Chico Xavier, Spiritism gained more supporters. Thus, the Brazilian Spiritist Movement gained in quantity, but lost in doctrinal quality, because of the existing gap among the followers regarding what Kardec, the Encoder, called "maturity of the moral sense", which is independent of age and level of education, but relates solely to the ability of the incarnate Spirit to understand the Doctrine, especially its moral consequences. 

The Spiritist Doctrine should prevail in a Spiritist Center

The gap in question, frequently rises misinterpretation of the doctrinal principles, resulting also in what Kardec defined as "principles of unity" – this term does not mean one has to think in the same way, but that we need to have the same goals regarding the Doctrine – which, together with the CUEE (Universal Control of the Teaching of the Spirits), would guarantee the union of the spirits and an insurmountable barrier against doctrinal deviations. The Spiritist Doctrine has to prevail in a Spiritist Center, and cannot be the isolated opinion of worker A or worker B, which are not always in accordance with the Coding and with the complementary psychographic messages received by reliable psychics. This occurs because of the misinterpretation and also by the lack of study of the Doctrine of the Spirits. Conjugated to these two factors, another one arises: functional illiteracy, which unfortunately is found in part of our institutions.

The confrere Geraldo Campetti Sobrinho, in his article Functional Illiteracy in Spiritism, states regarding the subject in question:(1)

The term [functional illiteracy] considers the noun "illiterate" as the individual who cannot read and write. Joining the adjective "functional", we can say that the “functional illiterate” is the person that can read and write, but cannot understand what he reads and writes. The person makes out letters and words, but cannot read them or understand their meaning. The reader does not understand the concepts presented in the text. When we apply this interesting expression to the Spiritist context, we must also find out whether we are not facing another sad reality: a crisis of "functional illiteracy inside Spiritism".

Spiritists teachings are being misinterpreted

Thus, we have observed that, despite the existence of study groups - which can be the way to prevent these misinterpretations, if the so-called "facilitators" have solid doctrinal formation - the Spiritist teachings have been misinterpreted by some Spiritists. Furthermore, the beginner has another difficulty within the learning process. This difficulty is the amount of psychic books, brought to the readers in a vulgar, frivolous language in complete disagreement with the common sense guideline of the books written by reliable Spiritist authors – mediunic or not. They also attack psychics and Spiritist leaders and present silly theses, such as that of a possible reincarnation in the world of the Spirits. The disembodied Spirits of such mentioned works are so called wise men, as Kardec defined them, which aim to confuse and prevent the spiritual movement, causing dissensions, disunity, attacks among confreres, and so on, in general, because they start by mentioning the Coding books and others of reliable authors. It is a clever tactic used by the spirits of Darkness, which gradually and slowly spread their ideas and, unfortunately, with the acceptance of part of the Spiritist community.

In consequence, the understanding and the very image of the Spiritist Doctrine end up being soiled by the increasing number of these works against the real Spiritism and many unwary regard them as legitimate. After all, if the book was bought at a Spiritist bookshop, it is assumed that it is Spiritist, especially when it comes to psychic work that, if compared to the work of the embodied author, shows a certain degree of superiority. This is not justified, because there are great works of embodied authors.

Do we examine properly what is published in the name of Spiritism? 

It is necessary to educate the leaders of the Spiritist Houses and those responsible for the bookstores and book clubs that it is necessary for them to analyze the works that are published before handing them to the reading public. In most cases, the readers cannot tell what is or what is not Spiritism, because their lack the study of the basic works.

Regarding this matter, Jose Passini, a studier of Esperanto, asks ^{(2) “}what shall we answer to those who, when joining the study of the Doctrine, ask us about it? Where is our rational faith? Where is our zeal for the Doctrine to which we owe so much, given [sic] new horizons which it outlines for us? Are we going to follow Paul’s wise advice (I Thessalonians 5: 21): Examine everything. Hold on to what is good? Have we examined what is published on behalf of Spiritism? Or are we not even concerned about it? Who is responsible for the Doctrinal faithfulness?” 

As stated, the authors of these works are the so called wise disembodied Spirits. Vianna de Carvalho⁽³⁾ warns us about these spiritual entities: 

These swindler Spirits and so called wise Spirits ought to be enlightened and advised to change their behavior, after we have shown them that we do not obey them, nor accept their sickening suggestions, their lies and the like scaring tales for children, which always existed, their information about the end of the world, and the endless stories they tell to seduce and guide the naïve that so easily believe in them…

The thorough knowledge of Spiritism is the antidote to this wave of frightening revelations, which spreads like a musty smell, trying to merge up to the Spiritist paradigms, that showed from the very beginning the legitimacy they carry, the Consoler confirming that Jesus promised His disciples and materialized Himself in the unique Doctrine. 

Where is the Spiritist movement more dynamic, and why?

Let us focus on the aforementioned Benefactor’s sentence, "true knowledge of Spiritism." This necessarily implies in the search for a consistent doctrinal formation. In this sense there is a Kardec’s timely recommendation: ⁽⁴⁾ 

We said that the best way for people to be enlightened in Spiritism is to start by studying the theory: the facts will follow naturally and will, of course, be understood. The purpose of our publications is to make this study easier. In this sense, we recommend that to obtain a better result, we follow this order:

The first work to be read should be of this summary (What is Spiritism), which provides the main and most worthy points of the Doctrine. By doing this, you will already have an idea of the subject and have an opinion whether it is reliable and serious. In this brief exposure we try to show the points that should particularly hold the reader’s attention. The ignorance of the fundamental principles is the cause of most of the false testimonials of those who judge what they do not understand, or do it according to their own preconceptions.

If this first exhibition causes the desire to know more, you should read The Book of Spirits, where the principles of the doctrine are fully developed. Then, read The Book of Mediums, for the experimental part, intended to serve as a guide to those who want to work by themselves, and those who want to find the solution and understand the phenomena. Then, there are various works, where the application and consequences of the Doctrine are developed, such as: The Gospel according to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell according to Spiritism, etc. [Emphasis added]. 

Realizing, therefore, the relevance of these recommendations, the Spiritist Metropolitan Council [today USE Regional Sao Paulo] launched in 1972, the campaign Start at Home, aiming to popularize the works of Allan Kardec. We have observed that the Brazilian Spiritist Federation is carrying forward this campaign, which encourages us a lot, since taking Kardec to the beginners, will make it much easier to promote the doctrinal awareness, thus opposing to the evil virus called doctrinal deviation. 

It is interesting to note that where the followers of Spiritism are more enlightened, doctrinally speaking, the Spiritist movement is more dynamic, precisely because the Spiritists, in these places, understand the greatness of the Spiritist work, unlike those who call themselves Spiritists, who are doctrinal irresponsible and lack study, and are always looking for novelties, in a whirl to introduce new concepts in the doctrinal body of Spiritism, concepts that confront the principles and postulates of the Doctrine. Reliable Spiritists have the task to preserve the pureness of the Doctrine - without forcing any awareness or attacking anyone. They have the mission to spread Spiritism to all, who are interested in knowing it, highlighting the importance of the study of the Encoding, recalling the wise words of the great and respected Leon Denis. "Spiritism is what men make of it"⁽⁵⁾ . Think about it!
 

REFERENCES: 

⁽¹⁾ SOBRINHO, Geraldo Campetti. Functional Illiteracy in Spiritism. Available in: http://www.febnet.org.br/blog/geral/colunistas/analfabetismo-funcional-no-espiritismo

⁽²⁾  PASSINI, Jose. Responsabilidade Nossa (Our Responsibility). Available in: http://passiniehessen.blogspot.com.br/2014/07/responsabilidade-nossa-jose-passini.html

⁽³⁾ Psychographic message by the medium Divaldo on December 7, 2009, during the period of the XVII National Spiritist Congress in Calpe, Spain. Available in: http://www.oconsolador.com.br/ano4/171/correiomediunico.html

⁽⁴⁾ What is Spiritism, Chapter. I, pages 78 to 79.

⁽⁵⁾ In the Invisible, introduction, page 12.

LITERATURE: 

Kardec, Allan. What is Spiritism: Introduction to the knowledge of the unseen world by the manifestations of the Spirits, containing a summary of the principles of Spiritism and the answer to major objections; Translation: Albertina Squire Seco. 1^st Edition - Rio de Janeiro: CELD 2008. 

DENIS, Leon. In the Invisible: Spiritism and Mediumship: Treaty of experimental Spiritism. 2^nd Edition - Rio de Janeiro: CELD, 2011.