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“We do not want to
believe like blind
people: reasoning is the
torch that guides us.”
(ALLAN KARDEC)
A few centuries ago,
those who believed that
the Spirit was created
by God at the moment of
birth, did not realize
something that Allan
Kardec (1804-1869) very
well observed, It can be
seen in his comment
inserted in the Spiritist
Magazine 1861. […] If
it is not admitted that
the soul has already
lived, it is
necessary that it be
created at the time it
is formed and for the
use of each body; whence
it follows that, the
creation of the soul by
God would be
subordinated to man's
whim, and is most often
the result of
debauchery. Such as!
All religious and moral
laws condemn the
depravity of customs,
and God would take
advantage of this to
create souls! We ask
every man of common
sense whether it is
possible for God to
contradict himself to
such an extent? Would it
not be to glorify vice,
since it would serve the
realization of the
Almighty's highest
designs: the creation of
souls? Let them tell
us whether this would
not be the consequence
of the simultaneous
formation of souls and
bodies, and it would
be even worse if the
opinion of those who
claim that man
procreates the soul at
the same time as the
body were accepted.
Admit, on the contrary,
the preexistence of the
soul, and all
contradiction ceases.
[…]. (i)
(Emphasis added)
Well… Our great surprise
was to realize that,
even having the
conception of the
pre-existence of the
soul, the idea of the
connection of the Spirit
to the body at birth was
the first information
passed on by Higher
Spirits to Allan Kardec,
as can be seen in these
questions of The
Book of Spirits: First
Edition of 1857:
86 – At what moment does
the soul unite with the
body?
“At birth.”
– Does the child have a
soul before birth?
"No."
– How do you live then?
“Like the plants.”
Allan Kardec's comment:
86 – The soul or Spirit
unites with the body the
moment the child sees
the light and breathes.
Before birth, the child
has only organic life
without a soul. It lives
like plants, having only
the blind instinct of
conservation, common to
all living beings. (i)
(Emphasis added)
Although, later on, the
moment of connection
will become that of
conception, we note that
the idea of occurring
at birth will persist at
various points in the
Codification works.
In the article “Doctor
Xavier, on various
psychophysiological
issues”, published in
the Spiritist
Magazine 1858,
in March, containing
“answers, eminently
instructive”, we will
highlight the following
questions:
24. At what moment
does the union of soul
and body take place in
the child? –
Answer: When the
child breathes, as
if it received the soul
with the outside air.
Note. This
opinion is a consequence
of Catholic dogma. In
fact, the Church teaches
that the soul cannot be
saved except by baptism;
Now, as natural
intrauterine death is
very frequent, what
would that soul become
deprived of, according
to it, of this only
means of salvation, if
it existed in the body
before birth? In order
to be consistent,
baptism would have to
take place, if not in
fact, at least
intentionally, from the
moment of conception.
25. How, then, do you
explain intrauterine
life? – Answer: Like
the plant that vegetates.
The child lives its
animal life.
26. Is it a crime to
deprive a child of life
before birth,
considering that before
that time the child,
having no soul, is
not, in some way, a
human being? – Answer:
The mother, or anyone
else, will always commit
a crime by taking the
child's life before
birth, because it is to
prevent the soul from
enduring the trials, for
which the body should be
the instrument.
27. Will the atonement,
which should be borne by
the soul prevented from
incarnating,
nevertheless take place?
– Answer: Yes, but
God knew that the soul
would not unite with
that body; thus, no soul
was to unite itself to
this corporeal envelope:
it was the test of the
mother.
28. In the event that
the mother's life would
be endangered by the
birth of the child, is
it a crime to sacrifice
the child to save the
mother? – Answer No;
it is necessary to
sacrifice the being that
does not exist to the
being that exists.
29. The union, of soul
and body, works either
instantaneously or
gradually; that is, does
it take an appreciable
time for this union to
be complete? – Answer:
The Spirit does not
suddenly enter the body.
To measure this time,
imagine that the
first breath that the
child receives is the
soul that enters the
body: the time that
the chest rises and
lowers.
30. Is the union of
the soul, with this or
that body, predestined,
or is it not until the
moment of birth that the
choice is made? –
Answer: God scheduled
it; this question
requires further
development. The Spirit,
choosing the test it
must undergo, asks to be
incarnated; now God,
who knows all and sees
all, knew and saw before
that such a soul, would
unite with such a body. When
the Spirit is born into
the lower classes of
society, it knows that
its life will be nothing
but work and suffering.
The child to be born has
an existence that
results, to some extent,
from the position of its
parents.
32. Can parents, by
their thoughts and
prayers, attract a good
Spirit to the child's
body, rather than an
inferior Spirit? -
Answer No; but they can
improve the Spirit of
the child they have
given birth to is their
duty, bad children are a
test for parents.
At the end of the
answers, we have the
following note:
The theory, given by
this Spirit, about the
instant of union of soul
and body, is not
entirely accurate. The
union starts from
conception; that is,
from that moment, the
Spirit, without being
incarnated, is linked to
the body by a fluidic
bond that is tightened,
more and more, until
birth; the incarnation
is not completed until
the child breathes.
(See The Book of
Spirits, no. 344 and
following.) (ii)
(Emphasis added)
The date on which this
manifestation took place
was not informed, so
that we can assess until
when these ideas were
passed. However, all the
answers point to the
fact that, during the
period in the mother's
womb, the child has a
vegetative life because
it does not yet have a
Spirit, which will be
linked to the physical
body, already fully
formed, by the way, at
birth. .
In the following month,
that is, in April, we
will find the article
“Description of
Jupiter”, product of the
manifestation of the
Spirit Bernard Pallissy,
on 03/09/1858, from
which we highlight the
following issue:
80. When a Spirit leaves
the Earth and is to be
reincarnated in Jupiter,
does he remain errant
for some time before
he has found the body to
which he is to be
united? Answer: It
remains errant for a
certain time, until it
is freed from its
earthly imperfections (iii)
(emphasis added)
The "before it has found
a body to which it must
unite" means that the
body is already formed,
so its binding would be
at the moment of birth.
Let us see now some
questions from The
Book of Spirits,
taking as base the 2nd edition,
published in 13/18/1860:
344. At what moment
does the soul unite with
the body?
"The union begins at
the moment of conception,
but it is only complete
at the moment of birth.
From the instant of
conception, the Spirit
designated to inhabit a
certain body is united
to it by a fluidic link,
which becomes more
and more closely united
up to the instant when
the child sees the light.
The cry, which the
new-born infant lets
out, announces that it
is numbered among the
living and the servants
of God." (iv )
(Italics in the
original, our bold)
The change of
understanding in
relation to the moment
of connection of the
Spirit to the body, in
the 2nd edition
of The Book of
Spirits, certainly
occurred in the period
between 03/09/1858 and
03/18/1860. The reason
for this change we are
unable to detect, but it
is this new
understanding that
represents the current
progress of human
knowledge, which began
with the use of the
technique of past-life
regression.
351. In the interval
between conception and
birth, does a Spirit
enjoy all its faculties?
"More or less, according
to the time, because it
is not yet incarnated,
but only connected. From
the instant of
conception, a Spirit
begins to be seized with
a perturbation, which
warns it that the moment
has come for him to
begin a new existence;
this perturbation
increases until its
birth. In this interval
its state is more or
less that of an
incarnated Spirit during
the sleep of the body.
As the hour of birth
approaches, its ideas
are effaced, as is also
the remembrance of the
past, of which he is no
longer conscious, as a
man, when he enters upon
life. But this
remembrance returns
to its memory little by
little, in its state of
Spirit." (vi)
(Italics in the
original, our bold)
(Continued in the next
issue.)
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