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“Does this mean we
ignore the facts? Quite
on the contrary, as all
of our science is based
on facts.” (ALLAN
KARDEC, RE (Spiritist
Magazine) 1859,
July.)
“The facts, this
is the true criterion of
our judgments, the
argument without reply.
In the absence of facts,
doubt is the opinion of
the reasonable man.”
(ALLAN KARDEC, OLE (O
Livro dos Espíritos –
The Book of Spirits,
Introduction)
Introduction
With these phrases
placed in the epigraph,
we want to prove that,
for Allan Kardec
(1804-1869), facts must
guide everything that
serves as a basis for
having a revelation or a
spiritual phenomenon as
true. However, in order
for us to see them as
the foundation of a
principle, we will never
achieve this if we do
not give up our
prejudices. In the Spiritist
Magazine 1863, the
Encoder warned:
[…] Prejudice,
in any sense, is the
worst condition for an
observer, because, then,
he sees everything and
refers to everything
from his point of view,
neglecting what may be
contrary. It is
certainly not the way to
get to the truth. […].
(i) (emphasis
added)
We are saying this
because it is public and
well-known that, in the
spiritist world, there
are confreres who have
an extreme aversion to
everything that comes
from the works of Andre
Luiz, without realizing
that sources long before
this author already gave
an account of certain
things that in them we
find and which, in
principle, we find
strange because we do
not see them clearly and
objectively in the works
of the Codification.
In fact, the journalist
Jose Herculano Pires
(1914-1979), admittedly
the one who most knew
the works of Allan
Kardec, did not despise
those of this spiritual
author, as recorded in
the article Herculano
Pires and the works of
Andre Luiz (ii)
We might even surrender
to something different
from what he said, but
it will need to be from
someone who surpasses
him in literary
production related to
Spiritism.
We use “see”
purposefully,
remembering what most
believers consider
biblical texts to be
like “it’s in the Bible,
I accept it, and that is
that”. Faced with a
radical position and
very attached to the
letter, they deny, for
example, that Jesus said
anything about
reincarnation.
It is important not to
be extremists, because,
several times, Allan
Kardec made it very
clear that Spiritism was
not ready and finished
and that it would be
subject to new
additions, obeying the
criterion of universal
control.
In our article Spiritism
still has no end(iii),
we mention something
that we think is worth
bringing to our
reflection. This is the
Allan Kardec Project, an
agreement between the
Federal University of
Juiz de Fora (UFJF) and
the Fundação Espírita
André Luiz (FEAL), whose
main objective is to
allow the general public
and researchers access
to hundreds of
manuscripts and original
documents by Allan
Kardec that had never
been released or
edited. (iv)
On October 2, 2022, on
the Projeto Allan
Kardec portal,
the manuscript “Project
Regarding Spiritism” was
published, originating
from the AKOL Museum,
managed by Adair Ribeiro
(v).
Unfortunately it was not
dated, however,
everything leads us to
believe that it was
written in December
1868. From this document
we highlight the first
paragraph on page 2 of
the manuscript:
The foundations of
Spiritism are, without a
doubt, established, but
it needs to be completed
by many works that
cannot be the work of a
single man. To avoid, in
the future, false
interpretations, erroneous
applications, in a word,
dissent, it is
necessary that all
principles be elucidated
in such a way as to
leave no
misunderstandings, to
not give rise, as much
as possible, to
controversy; It is
necessary that
complementary work be
carried out in the same
spirit and aiming to
achieve a single goal.
Let us suppose, then, to
accomplish this work, a
gathering of capable
men, industrious and
animated by the zeal of
a living faith, working
together, each in his
own specialty; By
submitting their work to
everyone's approval and
discussing it, they
would unquestionably
reach the crowning of
the building that was
rising. The authority of
the principles would
grow from the authority
of number, the gravity
of their character, and
the consideration that
they were capable of
being reconciled. (vi) (emphasis
added)
On the other hand, the
Encoder stated that if
Science were to prove
that the spiritist
revelation was wrong at
some point, we should
abandon it and embrace
the new reality. In our
view, this makes any
detail of the already
established principles
subject to change.
In the spiritist world,
few followers are aware
of the changes that
occurred between the 1st
and 2nd edition of The
Book of Spirits. We will
not mention them here,
but for those interested
we recommend our
article Changes in
position after the
publication of the 1st edition
of The Book of Spirits (vii).
What is found in The
Book of Spirits and The
Book of Mediums
It is necessary to see,
in these two works, what
is stated on the issue
of the manifestation of
animal spirits.
a) The Book of Spirits,
Second Book, chap. XI –
The three kingdoms,
topic “Animals and man”:
600. Surviving the body
in which it inhabited,
does the animal's soul
remain in a wandering
state similar to that in
which man finds himself
after death?
“It remains in a kind of
erraticity,
since it is no longer
united to the body, but
it is not a wandering
Spirit. The
wandering Spirit is a
being that thinks and
acts of its own free
will; that of animals
does not have the same
faculty. It is
self-awareness that
constitutes the main
attribute of the
Spirit. After death,
the animal's Spirit is
classified by the
Spirits who are in
charge of this task and
used almost immediately;
He doesn’t have time to
interact with other
creatures.” (viii) (italics
in the original, bold
ours)
b) The Book of
Mediums,
Second Part, chap. XXV –
Evocations, item 283 –
Evocation of animals:
36. Can the Spirit of
an animal be evoked?
“After the death of the
animal, the
intelligent principle
that was in it is in a
latent state and is soon
used, by certain Spirits
in charge of this, to
animate new beings, in
which it continues the
work of its elaboration.
Thus, in the world of
Spirits, there are no
wandering animal Spirits,
but only human Spirits.
This answers your
question.” (ix )
(italics in the
original, bold ours)
From this information we
have that the spirit of
an animal “remains in a
kind of erraticity”,
unfortunately not
detailed as we would
like it to be, and that
“the intelligent
principle within it is
in a latent state and is
immediately used” – or
almost immediately, as
said by OLE –, “by
certain Spirits
entrusted with this, to
animate new beings”.
Thus, in principle,
everything leads us to
believe in the
impossibility of the
manifestation of animal
spirits, as Allan Kardec
suggested several times
(x).
Situations mentioned in
the Spiritist
Magazine
From the article “Das
apparitions”, published
in the Spiritist
Magazine 1858,
in December, we
highlight the following
paragraph:
The perispirit,
separated from the body,
affects a determined and
limited form, and this
normal form is that of
the human body, but it
is not constant; the
Spirit can give it, at
will, the most varied
appearances and even
that of an animal or a
flame. Besides, this
is very easy to
conceive. Don't you see
men giving their faces
the most diverse
expressions, imitating,
to the point of
deceiving, other
people's voices, faces,
appearing hunchbacked,
lame, etc.? Who would
recognize certain actors
in the city that they
had never seen before on
stage? If, therefore,
man can give his
material and rigid body
such contrary
appearances, with even
greater reason the
Spirit can do so with an
eminently flexible
envelope, which can lend
itself to all the whims
of the will. (xi)
(emphasis added)
The information that
matters most to us is
that a Spirit can give
its perispirit an animal
appearance. But it is
not stated that all probable
manifestations of animal
spirits are Spirits that
pass themselves off as
such, therefore one
should not generalize.
In fact, in The
Book of Mediums,
chap. VI – Visual
manifestations, topic
“Questions about the
apparitions”, we have
confirmation of this:
30. Could Spirits
present themselves in
the form of animals?
“This can happen, but
only very inferior
Spirits take on these
appearances. In all
cases, the animalistic
form will be nothing
more than a momentary
appearance, as it would
be absurd to believe
that a true animal,
whatever it may be,
could be the incarnation
of a Spirit. Animals are
always animals and
nothing more than that.”
(xii) (italics in
the original, bold ours)
We would be convinced of
this solely by the
multitude of animals he
saw. It is known that
there are no wandering
animal spirits in the
invisible world, and
that, consequently,
there cannot be
apparitions of animals,
except in cases where a
Spirit gives birth to an
appearance of this kind
with a specific
objective, which would
always be nothing more
than an appearance, and
not the real Spirit of
such and such an animal.
The fact of apparitions
is indisputable, but one
must guard against
seeing them everywhere,
and from taking portals
into the games of
certain imaginations
that are easy to exalt,
or the retrospective
vision of images
imprinted in the brain;
The very detail with
which Mr. O… reveals
certain insignificant
particularities is an
indication of the nature
of his Spirit's
concerns.
In short, we do not find
anything in Mr. O…'s
visions that have the
character of apparitions
strictly speaking, and
we believe that there is
a great deal of
inconvenience in giving
similar facts without
comment, and without
making prudent
reservations, because
they provide,
unintentionally, weapons
the
Yes, in fact, when
seeing the descriptions
of Mr. O...'s visions,
it is easy to conclude,
according to Allan
Kardec, that they do not
have “the character of
apparitions strictly
speaking”, but that they
are probably
hallucinations.
This argument from the
Encoder is worth
highlighting: “It is
known that there are no
wandering animal spirits
in the invisible world,
and that, consequently,
there cannot be
appearances of animals,
except in cases where a
Spirit gives birth to an
appearance of this kind
with a specific
objective. (xiii),
which would always be
nothing more than an
appearance, and not the
real Spirit such and
such an animal.”
Considering what was
said in the previous
transcription, in the
article “Of
Apparitions”, the
“except in the case in
which a Spirit gave
birth to an appearance
of this kind”, we
conclude, s.m.j., that
it would be the
transformation of its
perispirit into the
appearance of a certain
animal.
[1] Spiritual fluids, which
constitute, properly
speaking, one of the
states of the cosmic
fluid, are the
atmosphere of spiritual
beings; it is the
element where they
obtain the materials on
which they operate;
It is the environment
where special phenomena
that are perceptible to
the sight and ear of the
Spirit take place, and
that escape the carnal
senses impressed only by
tangible matter, where
this light particular to
the spiritual world is
formed, different from
common light due to its
cause and effects; it
is, finally, the vehicle
of thought, as air is
the vehicle of sound.
[2] Spirits acting on
spiritual fluids do
not manipulate them as
men manipulate gases,
but with the help of
thought and will.
Thought and will are for
Spirits what the hand is
for man. By thought, they
give these fluids this
or that direction; they
cluster them, combine
them or disperse them;
with them they form sets
having a specific
appearance, shape,
color; changing their
properties, like a
chemist changes those of
gases or other bodies, they
combine them according
to certain laws; it is
the great workshop or
laboratory of spiritual
life.
[3] Sometimes these
transformations are the
result of intention;
they are often the
product of unconscious
thought; It is enough
for the Spirit to think
of a thing for that
thing to occur, just as
it is enough to modulate
an aria for that aria to
resonate in the
atmosphere.
[4] This is how, for
example, a Spirit
presents itself to the
sight of an incarnate person
endowed with psychic
vision, under the
appearances it had when
alive, at the time it
was known, had it
had several incarnations
later. He presents
himself with the
clothes, external
signs, illnesses, scars,
amputated limbs, etc.,
that he had then; a
decapitated person will
present himself with his
head missing. This is
not to say that he retains
these appearances; no,
certainly; because as a
Spirit he is neither
lame, nor one-armed, nor
one-eyed, nor
decapitated, but his
thought referring to
the time when he was
like that, his
perispirit instantly
takes on his appearances,
which he leaves in the
same way instantly, as
soon as his thought
leaves to act. If,
therefore, he was once
black, once white, he
will present himself as
black or as white,
depending on the two
incarnations under which
he is evoked, and where
his thoughts are
reported.
[5] By a similar
effect, the thought
of the Spirit fluidly
creates the objects it
had the habit of using: a
miser will handle gold;
a soldier will have his
weapons and his uniform;
a smoker, his pipe; a
farmer, his plow and his
oxen; an old woman,
her distaff to sharpen. These
fluidic objects are as
real for the Spirit,
which is itself fluidic,
as they were in the
material state for the
living man; but, for
the same reason that
they are created by
thought, their existence
is as fleeting as
thought.
[6] Fluids being the
vehicle of thought, they
bring us thought, as air
brings us sound. It can,
therefore, be said, in
truth, that there are,
in these fluids, waves
and rays of thoughts,
which intersect without
getting confused, just
as there are waves and
sound rays in the air.
[7] As you can see, it
is a completely new
order of facts that take
place outside the
tangible world, and
constitute, so to speak,
the special physics and
chemistry of the
invisible world. But as,
during incarnation, the
spiritual principle is
united to the material
principle, it follows
that certain phenomena
of the spiritual world
occur together with
those of the material
world, and are
inexplicable to those
who do not know their
laws. Knowledge of these
laws is, therefore, as
useful to the incarnate
as it is to the
disembodied, since only
they can explain certain
facts of material life.
[8] Thought, creating
fluidic images, is
reflected in the
spiritual envelope like
a pane of glass, or
even like those images
of terrestrial objects
that are reflected in
air vapors; She It takes
a body there and photographs
itself somehow. If a
man has, for example,
the idea of killing
another, however
impassive his material
body may be, his
fluidic body is put into
action by the thought of
which it reproduces all
the nuances; he fluidly
executes the gesture,
the act he wants to
perform; His thought
creates the image of the
victim, and the entire
scene is painted, as in
a painting, just as it
is in his spirit.
[9] This is how the
most secret movements of
the soul reverberate
through the fluidic
envelope; that a soul,
incarnate or discarnate,
can read in another as
in a book, and see what
is not perceptible by
the eyes of the body. The
eyes of the body see the
inner impressions that
are reflected on the
signs of the face:
anger, joy, sadness; but
the soul sees on the
signs of the soul the
thoughts that do not
translate around.
10; […].
[11] The theory of
fluidic creations and,
consequently, of the
photography of thought,
is an achievement of
modern Spiritism, and
can be, from now on,
considered as acquired
in principle, except for
the applications of
details that are the
result of observation. This
phenomenon is
indisputably the source
of fantastic visions,
and must play a large
role in certain
dreams. (xiv) (italics
in the original, bold
ours)
(Continues
in the next issue.)
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