The terms - Spiritism, or Spiritist Doctrine, and spiritist, or spiritist - were created by Allan Kardec to designate the new doctrine of Spirits and their supporters, which emerged with the Spiritist Codification, whose justifications are found in the introduction to The Book of Spirits, item I.

The Encoder of Spiritism chose these denominations to avoid confusion with other designations such as spiritual, spiritualist and spiritualism, which already had their concepts well defined.

Spiritism has as its principle the relations of the material world with that of the Spirits or with the beings of the invisible world, whose doctrine stems from its codification by Allan Kardec. With the aid of the Superior Spirits, through five basic works that involve a whole coherent, logical and rational of fundamental principles and ideas, which are systematized according to their scientific, philosophical and religious aspects.

In addition, the Spiritist Doctrine is dynamic and complemented by the subsequent Spiritist literature, due to the revelations and teachings of the Spirits, following human progress, the advances of Science and the progressiveness of the Spiritist revelations, according to our evolutionary degree, as Jesus said, “I still have much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. But when that Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will tell you what is to come ”(John 16: 12-13).

This is because the Spirits, through the development of intelligence, free will and morals, begin their evolutionary processes. From the beginning of its formation, the Spirit does not enjoy the fullness of its faculties. Intelligence only develops little by little. In each new existence, man has more intelligence and can better distinguish well from evil.

Moral progress accompanies intellectual progress, but it does not always follow immediately. Moral progress follows intellectual progress when the Spirit develops his free will and begins to understand good and evil, making correct choices and being aware of the responsibilities of his actions. Morals and intelligence are two forces that only reach balance over time, whose advances allow us to absorb more knowledge and truths.

Therefore, Spiritism came, at the predicted time, to fulfill the promise of Christ, and "If Spiritism had come before scientific discoveries, it would have failed, like everything that appears before its time". (KARDEC. The Genesis.)

Thus, the Spiritist Doctrine is the product of collective construction, formed by the group of beings of the spiritual world, each one bringing the tribute of their lights to men, to make this world known to them and the fate that awaits them.

For the Spiritist Doctrine, Spiritism and Science complement each other, mainly with the knowledge arising from the spiritual revelations transmitted by superior Spirits and the laws that govern the relations of the corporeal world with the spiritual world, which are laws of Nature, bringing light to misunderstood phenomena for the man.

For Spiritism, the Universe is not just matter. It has an intelligent principle governing everything that exists. From the simultaneous action of the material and intelligent principles, phenomena are born that are inexplicable if you do not consider one of the two. Above all is God.

“As a means of elaboration, Spiritism proceeds exactly in the same way as the positive sciences, that is, applying the experimental method. When new facts appear, which cannot be explained by known laws, Spiritism observes, compares, analyzes and, going back from effects to causes, arrives at the law that presides over them; then it deduces their consequences and seeks useful applications”. (KARDEC. The Genesis.)

Spiritist Science came from Allan Kardec, who devoted himself body and soul to scientific work in a tireless way in the elaboration of the Spiritist Codification, starting to analyze spiritist facts under the rigor of scientific methodology and philosophical principles.

To guarantee the veracity, Kardec established a universal control of the teachings of the Spirits by the universality and agreement of their revelations, that is, the guarantee by the agreement of the revelations of the Spirits that they make spontaneously, through a large number of mediums, strangers to each other, and from several places.

In this sense and context, the spiritist is the adept who follows, orients himself and conducts his life, his attitudes and actions in accordance with the Spiritist Doctrine. Therefore, not every spiritualist, practitioner of a certain belief or medium is a spiritist.

It is important to emphasize that mediumship is inherent to an aptitude or an organic disposition of every human being, conferred without distinction, that anyone can be gifted serving as a means of communication with the Spirits, not necessarily being a spiritist.

“Everyone who feels, to any degree, the influence of the Spirits is, for that reason, a medium. This faculty is inherent in man; therefore, it does not constitute an exclusive privilege. For this very reason, rare are the people who do not have some rudiments of it. Therefore, one can say that all are, more or less, mediums. However, usually, only those in whom the mediumistic faculty is well characterized and is translated by patent effects, of a certain intensity, which then depends on a more or less sensitive organization, are qualified in this way”. (KARDEC. The Book of Mediums. Chapter XIV. Of mediums. Item 159.)

Spiritism as a philosophy of life

Spiritism as a philosophical doctrine of religious effects brings moral rules of life and behavior to all human beings. It has Jesus as a model of moral perfection to which Humanity can aspire, because God offers us Christ, from the beginning of everything, as the Governor of the Terrestrial Orb, being the divine Master the path, the truth and the life towards the Father. Moreover, the doctrine that he taught us is the purest expression of the law of the Lord, because He is the purest of all who have appeared on Earth, because the Divine Spirit animated him (KARDEC. The Book of Spirits. Question 625).

Spiritism, like all religions, is based on the bonds of love for God and neighbor, on charity that saves and frees the soul, on universal fraternity and on the communion of thoughts based on God's laws, uniting faith and reason. In addition, he is concerned with the moral consequences of his teaching, seeking, in the ethics and morals preached by Jesus, the elements that should guide the conduct of human beings towards the Creator.

One of its effects is to instill religious feelings in those without them and to strengthen them in those who have them wavering.

In this direction, Spiritism seeks to provide the moral transformation of man, resuming the teachings of Christ, so that they can be applied in the daily life of each person, reviving Christianity in its true expression of love and charity, reconnecting the creature to its divine origin.

However, Spiritism is not a constituted religion, since it has no cult, nor rite, nor temples and that, among its followers, none has taken or received the title of priest or high priest.

Spiritist morals and ethics

Morals and ethics before the laws of God must guide the morals and ethics of spiritists. God's laws are eternal, unchanging, infinite and universal. In the same direction, spiritist morals and ethics are out of discussion.

Morality involves values that govern behavior in the face of norms established by society or by the social group, determining the moral sense of each individual in their healthy and harmonious relationships. It Seeks social well-being.

For the Spiritist Doctrine, in The Book of Spirits, by Allan Kardec, in question 629, “morality is the rule of good conduct, that is, of distinguishing well from evil. It is founded on the observance of the law of God. Man does well when he does everything for the good of all, because then he fulfills the law of God”. (KARDEC. The Book of Spirits).

In question 630, “good is everything that is in accordance with the law of God; evil, everything that is contrary to it. Thus, to do well is to act according to the law of God; to do evil is to infringe it”. (KARDEC. The Book of Spirits)

In the book The Genesis, by Allan Kardec, in the part about the origin of good and evil, “if man were created perfect, he would inevitably be led towards good. God wanted him to be subject to the law of progress, and that this progress was the fruit of his own work for him, so that he would have the merit of it, as well as the responsibility for the evil that is done by his will. ”. (KARDEC. The Genesis)

“As man has to progress, the evils to which he is exposed are a stimulus to the exercise of his intelligence, of all his physical and moral faculties, inciting him to seek the means of preserving himself from them. If he had nothing to fear, no need would drive him to seek the best; he would be numb with the inactivity of his spirit; he would not invent anything, he would not discover anything. Pain is the sting that compels man to advance on the road of progress”. (KARDEC. The Genesis)

The Gospel of Jesus is the Moral Code of Christians, which is based on the Law of God, and the morality that the Spiritist Doctrine teaches is that of Jesus Christ, which is why there is no better one. In this sense, spiritist morals must have the same reference.

Moral guidelines provide subsidies for the construction and application of norms of conduct, collective and individual, subsidies that can be used by human beings, regardless of their customs, religion and traditions.

For this reason, morality is always interpreted as good, as everything that promotes the integral improvement of man, adjusting him to the reality of life, regardless of religion and belief, or even in the absence of these, becoming a person of good. However, to be effectively good, human beings need to experience the Law of Love: good is everything that conforms to the Law of God, and evil is everything that deviates from it.

Moral conscience stems from the structuring of the moral world within the being, as the moralized individual is someone who considers the meaning of life within a larger context, which is not limited to meeting the biological survival needs of the species.

Finally, for an act to be considered effectively moral, it must be voluntary, spontaneous, free, conscious, intentional, never imposed. Coated with these characteristics, the moral act presents responsibility and commitment.

Responsible is the one who responds for his actions, that is, the conscious and free person assumes the authorship of his act, recognizing it as his and answering for its consequences.

Spiritist ethics comprises acting in accordance with the Spiritist Doctrine, which is based on the Law of God, on the teachings of Jesus Christ and on spiritist morals, on the practice of good and charity. Ethics synthesizes rules and precepts of value and moral order of an individual, group or society. It seeks to base the way of living and acting. From this understanding, it is possible to define rules and prescriptions that determine the behavior and conducts, considered valid for a group, a community or for an individual.

While morality deals with values, which should base collective and individual behavior, ethics takes care of its applicability, through norms and rules that regulate human relationships. It can be said, then, that if morality reaches all cultures, at any time, because they are universal principles, ethics is made up of specific rules defined for a society or groups.

Another important aspect is the “give freely what you have freely received”, which is inserted in the context of Christian morals and ethics, regulating the behavior and guiding the acts of its followers, in particular of our reflection: of the spiritist.

Of all the facts that testify to the power of Jesus, the most numerous are the cures. The apostles had freely received the gift of God to heal the sick and cast out demons.

In fulfilling his mission, Jesus counted on the collaboration of the apostles and other disciples. The great workers of Spirituality, full of courage and austerity, crossed the roads from village to village, from town to town. They did not worry  about possessions, clothes, purses, saddlebags or sandals, in carrying out the orders they received,  already healing the sick and bringing peace to the crowds suffocated by tribulations, already announcing loudly and without desiring other values, the arrival of the Kingdom of God, which should dominate the hearts.

For us to be considered disciples of Jesus it is necessary to develop moral values: disinterest, abnegation, sacrifice, meekness, courage, dignity, humility, love. As for the gratuity of cures for illnesses and relief from suffering, God wants the light to reach everyone. He doesn't want the poorest to be deprived of it and to be able to say: I don't have faith, because I couldn't pay it; I did not have the consolation of receiving the encouragement and testimonies of affection from those I mourn, because I am poor.

The Spiritist Doctrine is not consistent with any type of charge for providing spiritual services. The teachings deal with the disapproval of commercialization in the name of the Spiritist Doctrine. If we receive freely, freely we must give.

In order to obtain benevolence from the good spirits, it is necessary to have humility, devotion and abnegation; the most absolute material disinterest. Between Heaven and Earth, intermediaries (mediums) cannot receive money for this task. The Creator does not sell the benefits it bestows.

Mediumship is freely given by God for the relief of those who suffer, and cannot be used commercially. The interpreters of the Spirits cannot obtain material profit to instruct men, show them the path of goodness and lead them to faith. They must not sell messages that do not belong to them, nor be the object of financial profit, as they are not products of their authorship, nor of their research, nor of their personal work. The medium cannot sell a possible cure under any circumstances. This question is not out of discussion. The healing medium transmits the salutary fluid of good spirits. Jesus and the apostles did not charge anything for healing.

The medium who exercises his faculty according to Christ, without material or selfish interests, receives the corresponding spiritual reward. The only currency that the Creator accepts as exchange is the love of neighbor. Spiritism must be the dissemination of the word of consolation as Jesus taught us. Spiritism is not based on commercial interests.

Good mediums have affinities with good spirits. Bad mediums have affinities with bad spirits. The moral qualities of mediums are influenced by the nature of the spirits who communicate through them.

The qualities of good spirits are kindness, benevolence, simplicity of heart, love of neighbor and detachment from material things. The defects that keep them apart are pride, selfishness, envy, jealousy, hatred, sensuality and all the passions by which man attaches himself to matter.

Mediumship is neither an art nor a talent. Therefore, it cannot become a profession. It does not exist without the cooperation of the Spirits; lacking these, there is no longer mediumship. To exploit someone's mediumship is to have something he does not really own. To claim otherwise is to deceive those who pay. It is different from the work of the doctor, the

Thus, it is in the exercise of mediumship with Jesus and in the application of His values to the benefit of others and in the name of charity that the being reaches the fullness of his functions and faculties, converting himself into blessings, a sower of spiritual health and peace: “Give freely what you have freely received”.

To end this reflection, in The Gospel According to Spiritism, by Allan Kardec, in Chapter XVII, “Be perfect”, in “The Good Spiritists”, we have: “Spiritism does not institute any new morality; it only facilitates to men the intelligence and practice of the Christ, providing unshakable and enlightened faith to those who doubt or waver. (...) A true spiritist is recognized by his moral transformation and by the efforts he employs to tame his evil inclinations.”

Bibliography:

KARDEC, Allan; translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra. The Genesis. 2nd Edition. Brasília/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2013.

KARDEC, Allan; translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra. Heaven and hell. 2nd Edition. Brasília/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2013.

KARDEC, Allan; translation by Guillon Ribeiro. The gospel According to spiritism. 1st edition. Brasilia/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2019.

KARDEC, Allan; translation by Guillon Ribeiro. The Book of Spirits. 1st edition. Brasilia/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2019.

KARDEC, Allan; translation by Guillon Ribeiro. The Book of Mediums. 1st edition. Brasilia/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2019.

KARDEC, Allan; translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra. What is Spiritism. 2nd Edition. Brasília/DF: Brazilian Spiritist Federation, 2017.