Understanding Spiritism Our thanks to the Spiritist Museum of Rio de Janeiro, who kindly provided the photos of the Spiritist personalities who illustrate this book. Several Authors Understanding Spiritism CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................... 7 Chapter 1 What is Spiritism? When did it arise, where, and under what circumstances? ..............................................9 Chapter 2 How was the corpus of the Spiritist Doctrine created and by whom? A succinct biography of Allan Kardec ..................23 Chapter 3 How was the Spiritist Doctrine spread throughout the world? The followers of Allan Kardec in France and in other Countries ....................................................................37 Chapter 4 What position does the Spiritist Doctrine occupy among other existing philosophies and religions? ............................49 Chapter 5 What are the segments composed by the Spiritist Doctrine? Which should be considered the most important? Why? ..................................................................61 Chapter 6 Differences between Spiritism, Umbanda and other African Indigenous religions ...................................................67 Chapter 7 Outline of “The Spirits’Book .................................................76 Chapter 8 Outline of the book “Heaven and Hell” ................................81 Chapter 9 Outline of “The Mediums Book” .........................................89 Chapter 10 Description of the material and spiritual world. ...................95 The interchange through mediumship Chapter 11 Outline of “The Genesis” / The miracles and predictions according to Spiritism ...........107 Chapter 12 The laws of Reincarnation and Karma. The evolution of the Spirit ................................................115 Chapter 13 Shape of the Spirits. Spiritual envelopes. Perispirit and the etheric body ........................................................................125 Chapter 14 Recollections of previous existences. Necessity of doing good. The Structure of the Christian family ..................................131 Chapter 15 The Law of Action and Reaction .........................................141 Chapter 16 Outline of the Book: The Gospel According to Spiritism ...149 Chapter 17 Moral life based on the Gospel of Jesus .............................158 Attachments Biographies ..........................................................................162 The School of Gospel Apprentices ......................................182 Introduction We can classify the The School of Gospel Apprentices as one of the most important events registered in the history of Spiritism. Founded in 1950 under the guidance of Commander Edgard Armond, it established itself over the decades for its ability to guide students along the hard path of inner reform. With The School of Gospel Apprentices, which is formed today by hundreds of Spiritist Groups based both in Brazil and all over the world, Spiritism is emphasized in its true sense, the religious sense, therefore fulfilling the Third Revelation: to redeem mankind through the Gospel! Purging vices and controlling defects, conquering virtues as shown by Jesus, striving for constant moral renewal in its three aspects: the inner, familiar and social. These are some of the wonders that the School offers to its students. As many say, those who enter The School of Gospel Apprentices find themselves faced with the “Conversion on the Way to Damascus”. In spite of the wonderful results achieved by the School, there was a need for a Basic Spiritism course, a basic step, an entrance stage or foundation for the The School of Gospel Apprentices that would offer the students the knowledge of the essential aspects of the Doctrine. At the beginning of 1974, once the EVANGELICAL SPIRITIST ALLIANCE was created, its board of directors discussed this need with Commander Armond and received from him the approval and incentive to establish such a program. The creation of the curriculum, limited to 12 lessons, was placed in the hands of Valentin Lorenzetti, whose journalistic approach created excellent results. After a few corrections and comments from Commander Armond, the program was officially formalized on May 1st1974. In answer to continued requests from Spiritist groups, these lessons were recorded into audio format and given a chat-like, informal air. In 1976/77 the recordings were adapted for radio and broadcast by Boa Nova Radio Station, in Guarulhos, São Paulo. The task of adapting the radio language into a literary version was entrusted to Flávio Focássio and Valentim Lorenzetti. The current edition has been expanded by the Aliança Publishing editing team into 17 classes under the title “Understanding Spiritism”, though it still follows the intentions of the established Program for Groups of the Alliance, as defined in the book“Living Religious Spiritism”. Do not expect a full Spiritism Course, as the objective of this book is to present the basic elements and therefore to open the doors to those who wish to pursue further knowledge. São Paulo, December 2000. Editora Aliança (publisher) 8 Chapter 1 What is spiritism? When did it arise, Where, and under what circumstances? 1.1 Spiritism Spiritism is a religious doctrine revealed by High order Spirits through mediums which was codified in Paris during the mid 19th Century by a French educator, Allan Kardec. The doctrine is grounded upon philosophical, scientific and religious principles. 1.2 Spiritual Revelations in the History of Humanity To reveal means to unveil, to show, to make known what was secret. Divine laws are revealed to human beings in accordance with their degree of understanding and capacity to comprehend the revealed truths. Periodically, the Highest Spirituality reveals to mankind the principles that pave the path of goodness, although not everyone chooses to accept or recognize them. This is due to their free will. Revelations are made at different times to different people and usually through the teachings of inspired prophets and suitably qualified spiritual instructors. It is by living and practicing these teachings that creatures evolve spiritually. While the Orient has received revelatory cycles since immemorial times, here we tend to identify three major Divine Revelations: — The 1st Revelation, made to Moses on Mount Sinai through the Ten Commandments, imparting the Law of Justice. — The 2nd Revelation, made by Jesus through the Gospels, imparting the Law of Love. Chapter 1 — The 3rd Revelation, made by Spiritism through the Spiritist Doctrine, revealing to us the existence of another world, more real than our own – the spiritual world –explaining the origin and nature of the beings that dwell therein. These are three great, successive and complementary Revelations, with the second subsuming the first, just as the third subsumes the second, and it is unfinished. 1.3 The Paraclete (The Consoler Promised by Jesus) In the Gospel of John, 14:16-26 we hear the heartening news that Jesus gave to his disciples: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Consoler” (…) “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”. The Master went on to say that, when the time was right, humanity would once again be graced with the redemptive lessons of his Gospel of Love. “But the Consoler, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. The term Paraclete, derived from the Greek parakletus, can be translated as consoler, comforter or interceder, but in theological language it acquired the meaning of the Holy Spirit, as can be seen from the paragraph above. When speaking of the Paraclete, Jesus was very clear: so that “(...) he may abide with you forever”, the promised advent of “the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him” would not be in the form of a material body. It would be eternal and grounded in the spiritual. The Universal History is peppered with illustrious personalities who have compacted the universal laws into meaningful teachings, generating “schools” that often lasted for centuries, without, however, becoming enrooted in the human heart: do unto others as you would have others do unto you, said Confucius; abolish selfishness and desire, advised 10 UNDERSTANDING SPIRITISM Buddha; wisdom generates virtue, claimed Socrates; God is justice, taught Moses to a mankind fresh out of animality; God is love, demonstrated Jesus, to the eyes of a humanity that could neither see him nor know him”. None of these lessons withstood the abrasive power of the centuries, and all were either forgotten or adulterated. Proclaiming loud and clear that God is liberty with responsibility, Spiritism came at the appointed hour to fulfill the promise made by Christ. Its advent is the work of a pleiad of High order Spirits presided over by the Spirit of Truth. It demands that men observe the Law, speaks to them with neither figures nor allegories, then lifting the veil so intentionally drawn across certain mysteries, and extolling the practice of goodness and consolation through faith and hope. Beyond charity there is no salvation! This is the synthesis of the methodically organized teachings that comprise the Spiritist Doctrine. Promising consolation through faith, it teaches us that faith is the Divine inspiration that awakens the virtues and leads man towards