SPIRITISM IN ITS SIMPLEST EXPRESSION SUMMARY OF THE SPIRITS’ TEACHINGS and their manifestations BY ALLAN KARDEC Author of The Spirits’ Book Founder of Revue Spiritiste and codifier of Spiritism _______ NEW EDITION FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE SPIRITIST UNION SPIRITISM IN ITS SIMPLEST EXPRESSION _____________ HISTORY OF SPIRITISM. Around 1848, in the United States, one has called attention to a number of strange phenomena consisting of sounds, raps, and objects moving for unknown reasons. Such phenomena were often spontaneous, and happened with remarkable intensity and persistence, but one has also noticed that they took place especially under the influence of certain people, who became known as mediums, people who could somehow provoke them at will, making the repetition of such experiences possible. To that end, tables were most often used, not because they are particularly special objects, but for their convenience as pieces of furniture around which one could easily and naturally sit. Thus, the table would spin, then move about in all directions, jerk, turn upside down, rise in the air, rap strongly on the floor, etc. This phenomenon got to be known as turning tables or dance of the tables. At first it seemed it could be perfectly explained by an electric or magnetic current, or by the action of some unknown fluid, and such was the first opinion about it. It was soon realized, however, that these phenomena had intelligent effects and obeyed a will; the table would spin to the right or to the left towards a designated person; it would stand or one or two legs at command; it would strike the floor as many times as requested; it would beat to a rhythm, etc. Thus, it became clear that the issue was not purely physical. Following the principle: If every effect has a cause, every intelligent effect must have an intelligent cause, one may conclude that the cause of such a phenomenon had to be an intelligence. What was the nature of that intelligence? That was the question. Tem first hypothesis was that the phenomenon could be a reflection of the intelligence of the medium or his assistants, but experience soon showed that such a thing was impossible, because events took place that were entirely alien to the thought and knowledge of the attendants, and sometimes even contradicted their ideas, their will and their desire; it had, then, to belong to some invisible being. The means to confirm that was utterly simple: it consisted of entering into dialogue with that being, which was accomplished by establishing a number of raps to mean yes and no, or by determining letters of the alphabet. In this way, answers were obtained to several questions asked to that being. Such a phenomenon was named talking boards. All beings that communicated in that way, when asked about their nature, responded they were Spirits and belonged to the invisible world. The same effects were reproduced in several different locations, with the mediation of different people, and observed by extremely serious and enlightened men, rendering it impossible to attribute them to mere illusion. From the United States, the phenomenon spread throughout France and the rest of Europe where, within a few years, the turning tables and talking boards had become fashionable, often as entertainment in fairs, until people grew tired of them and sought new forms of distraction. The phenomenon soon resurfaced under a new light, which removed it from the field of mere curiosity. As the scope of this summary does not allow for a thorough description of all its phases, we will follow describing what is most characteristic of the phenomenon, attracting especial attention from reputable intellectuals. First, it is necessary to remark that the reality of the phenomenon found many opponents; some, disregarding the unbiased and respectful nature of those who experimented it, saw in it mere juggling, a deft magical trick. Those who admit nothing but the material, those who believe only what their eyes can see, those who think everything dies with the body, materialists, in sum: those who call themselves free thinkers, rejected the existence of invisible spirits to the realm of absurd fables; they deemed crazy those who took the phenomenon seriously and made mocking, sarcastic comments about them. Others, unable to deny the facts, and under the influence of a certain order of ideas, attributed the phenomena to the exclusive influence of the devil and thus sought to scare those who were diffident. Currently, however, fear of the devil seems to have lost prestige; it has been discussed and described so often and in so many ways that we have grown familiar with the idea and many have actually said that we ought to seize the opportunity to see what it really is. As a result, with the exception of some jittery women, the announcement of the arrival of the real devil had something appealing to those who had seen it only in paintings and in the theater; to a number of people, that was a powerful incentive; thus, those who so wished to hinder new ideas ended up working against their own purposes, inadvertently becoming more effective publicists the louder they raised their voices. Other critics were no more successful because they could not oppose more than denial to empirical facts and categorical reasoning. The reader of their publications will find proof of ignorance and lack of strict observation of facts throughout, as they fail to present any conclusive demonstration of the impossibility of such phenomena; their whole argument could be summarized as follows: “I do not believe it, so it does not exist; whoever believes it is a fool; only we have the privilege of reason and common sense”. The number of followers attracted by serious or sarcastic criticism cannot be calculated, as everywhere we find solely personal opinion, unfounded by evidence to the contrary. Thus, let us proceed with our presentation. Communication by means of raps was slow and incomplete; one then noticed that with the fitting of a pencil to a movable object –a basket, a drawing board, or another such article on which it was possible to place one’s fingers –, the object would be set in motion and draw characters. Later it was recognized that these objects were just accessories that could be dispensed with; experience showed that the Spirit, acting on an inert body to guide it according to its will, could do the same with an arm or a hand to move the pencil. And thus originated the writing mediums, people who would write involuntarily, under the influence of Spirits, whose instruments and interpreters they became. From that moment on, communications had no limits, and the exchange of thoughts could be carried out as readily and easily as between living people. It was a vast field open to exploration, the discovery of a new world: the invisible world had been found, just like the microscope had found the world of the infinitely small. What are those Spirits? What role do they play in the universe? To what end do they communicate with mortals? These were the first questions to be answered. Soon one got to know, from Spirits themselves, that they are not separate beings in creation but the very souls of those who once lived on earth or in other worlds; that these souls, after leaving the envelope of the body, inhabit and move across the space. It was no longer possible to doubt that fact after they recognized in the group friends and relatives with whom they could communicate; when they came to give proof of their existence, to show that only their bodies had died, that their soul or their Spirit still lived, and that they were here, close to us, watching and observing as before, surrounding with care those they loved and whose memory was sweet satisfaction to them. In general, one has an entirely false idea of the Spirits; they are not, as many would imagine, abstract, vague, indefinite beings, or something like a glow or a flame; instead, they are very real beings, with individuality and defined form. The following explanation provides a general idea: The human being is composed of three essential parts: 1) the soul or Spirit, intelligent principle in which thought, will, and moral sense reside; 2) the body, heavy and coarse material covering that establishes the spirit’s relationship with the exterior world; 3) the perispirit, light fluidic envelope which serves as intermediate bond and link between the Spirit and the body. When the external covering is worn out and can no longer function, the Spirit sheds it and is set free, like a fruit or a tree that sheds its bark. In short, it abandons the body as one would abandon a garment that no longer fits; this is what we call death. Therefore, death is nothing but the destruction of the coarse covering of the Spirit: only the body dies, the spirit lives on. In life, the Spirit is somehow constrained by the bonds of the matter to which it is linked, which sometimes hampers its capabilities; the death of the body frees the Spirit from such bonds; disencumbered of it, the Spirit recovers its freedom, like a butterfly that leaves its chrysalis. It leaves, however, only the material body; it keeps the perispirit, which is a sort of ethereal body to it, light, imponderable to us, and most typically of human form. In its normal state, the perispirit is invisible, but the Spirit may submit it to some modifications to make it temporarily available to sight or even touch, as occurs with condensed vapor; it is thus that they may sometimes show themselves to us in apparitions.