What are the fundamental principles of spiritism?
Allan Kardec, in the introductory part of the Spirits ' book, summarizes in 35 items the main points of the Spiritist doctrine. However, before we bring the observations of Kardec and, to help in our understanding, we gather the fundamental principles in five: 1. Existence of God; 2. Immortality of the soul; 3. Plurality of stocks; 4. Plurality of inhabited worlds; 5. Communicability of Spirits.
The existence of God is the basis of spiritism, its cornerstone, being God the Supreme Intelligence, the primary cause of all things. God is eternal, unchangeable, immaterial, unique, omnipotent, soberly just and good, created the universe, which encompasses all animated and inanimate, material and intangible beings. In Chapter 3 we will study in more detail about God, and now it is only to inform the spirits that they are told to find evidence of the existence of God in an axiom that we apply to our sciences, that there is no effect without cause, so that Seeking the cause of all that is not the work of man, our reason will answer us to have been God. 1
The immortality of the soul shows us that we are immortal spirits, born simple and ignorant, with aptitude for good and evil, with destiny to perfection and happiness. Before we are human beings, incarnate in a physical body, we are children of God, for the spirit is the intelligent principle of the universe and, among the different species of corporeal beings, God has chosen the human species for the incarnation of the Spirits.
Thus, the spirits temporarily coat a perishable material wrapper, which is destroyed by the death of the physical body and, when the spirit is in the life of the body, we say that it is a soul or spirit incarnate. When he dies, however, we say that he has disempied, when he returns to the spiritual plan or spirituality, where he came from, continuing the process of spiritual ascension.
There are three things in man: the BODY or being material; The SOUL or be immaterial (incarnate Spirit in the body) and the PERISPIRIT or Semimaterial wrapper, the bond that binds the body to the Spirit (intermediate element), not being the spirits equal nor in power, nor in intelligence or in knowledge or morality, having Several graduations of evolution among the spirits.
Didactically, Kardec divided the spirits into three orders: first order (or pure), are the superiors, are distinguished by their perfection, knowledge and proximity to God (are the angels); Second order, are the good spirits, in which the good is the predominant feeling and; Third Order, imperfect spirits, where evil is still the greatest feeling, finding themselves more distant from perfection and fudged of passions such as envy, hatred, jealousy, pride, etc.
The plurality of existences shows us that the soul progresses and if it is subjected to the proof of a new existence, it is what we call reincarnation. We all have many existences and the goal of reincarnation is the atonement and the progressive betterment of mankind, for without it, where would justice be? Reincarnation, therefore, allows the spirit to live various existences in the world, growing, becoming a human being, intellectually and morally, and increasingly approaching the laws of God.
Most likely, most of our daily struggles and sufferings derive from misconceptions by us in past lives and now we are having the sublime opportunity to resgá them in compliance with the Law of action and reaction. Reincarnation is, therefore, the mechanism of divine justice, not rewarding or punishing anyone, with each one being responsible for the fruits harvested, whether good or bad.
The plurality of the inhabited worlds states that the Incarnation and reincarnation of Spirits can take place on earth and on other worlds, so that believing in the uniqueness of the earth would be to doubt the wisdom of God, which does nothing to useless. When Jesus said, "Do not be blurred in your heart, believe in God, believe in me as well. There are many addresses in my father's house, "he taught us about the plurality of the inhabited worlds. The "House of the Father" is the universe and the different addresses are the worlds that circulate in infinite space, offering the spirit worlds corresponding to their advance.
The living beings evolve morally, the worlds materially, for nothing remains stationary in nature, and the worlds, as for evolution, are primitive, of expiations and of proofs, of regeneration, happy and, finally, Celestial, which is the abode of the spirits Pure. The earth is a world of inferior moral category, world of Proofs and expiations, by virtue of its pitiful panorama, still full of dislove and selfishness, but it is in transition period, going to the world of regeneration.
Regarding the communicability of the spirits, we know that these constitute one of the powers of nature, acting on matter and on thought, exercising action on the physical and moral world. They are the cause of a series of phenomena until then unexplained or explained in an erroneous way, which only find rational explanation in Spiritism.
The relations of the spirits with men are constant, the good attract us for good and the wicked urge us to the error. And how do you give that? Through our thinking, our tune, being thought the bond that binds us to the spirits, therefore, depending on our mental emanations and our actions, we will attract to close positive or negative spiritual companies. The communication of the spirits with men can be hidden, without even realizing, through intuition or inspiration, or ostensives, when well characterized, and can also manifest themselves spontaneously or by evocation.
The superior spirits present themselves in serious meetings, where love, good and sincere desire predominate, always using noble, dignified and high moral language. The inferior spirits are constantly present among frivolous people, motivated solely by curiosity and where there are bad instincts, being their language trivial and even coarse.
The superior spirits teach that in the world of spirits, nothing can be hidden, the hypocrite is unmasked; To the States of superiority and inferiority of the spirits, they correspond to unknown feathers and joys on earth; They also teach that there are no irredispermissible faults that the atonement cannot afford and that the means for progress are the different existences that allow man to advance, according to his desires and efforts.
After a general idea about the fundamental principles of the Spiritist doctrine, I bring the points listed by Allan Kardec [2] To summarize the Spiritist doctrine:
1. God is eternal, unchangeable, immaterial, unique, omnipotent, soberly just and good.
2. Created the universe, which encompasses all animated, inanimate, material and intangible beings.
3. Material beings constitute the visible or corporeal world, and the intangible beings, the invisible or Spiritist world, that is, the spirits.
4. The Spiritist world is the normal, primitive, eternal, pre-existent and surviving world.
5. The body world is secondary; It could cease to exist, or never have existed, without altering the essence of the Spiritist world.
6. The spirits temporarily coat a perishable material wrapper, whose destruction by death restores them to freedom.
7. Among the different species of corporeal beings, God chose the human species for the incarnation of the spirits who reached a certain degree of development, giving him moral and intellectual superiority over the others.
8. The soul is a incarnate spirit, being the body only its mantle.
9. There are three things in man: 1, the body or be material analogous to animals and animated by the same vital principle; 2 º, the soul or be immaterial, spirit incarnate in the body; 3 º, the bond that binds the soul to the body, intermediate principle between matter and the spirit.
10. Thus has man two natures: by the body, participates in the nature of the animals, whose instincts are common to him; By the soul, participates in the nature of the spirits.
11. The loop or Perispirit, which attaches to the body the spirit, is a kind of semimaterial wrapper. Death is the destruction of the grosser casing. The spirit retains the second, which constitutes an etherean body, invisible to us in the normal state, but it can become accidentally visible and even tangible, as it happens in the phenomenon of apparitions.
12. The spirit is therefore not an abstract, undefined being, only possible to conceive by thought. It is a real, circumscribed being that, in some cases, becomes appreciable by sight, by ear and by touch.
13. The spirits belong to different classes and are not equal, neither in power, nor in intelligence, nor in knowing, nor in morality. Those of the first order are the superior spirits, who distinguish themselves from others by their perfection, their knowledge, their proximity to God, the purity of their feelings and their love of good: they are the angels or pure spirits. Those of the other classes are more and more distant from this perfection, showing those of the lower categories, mostly, fudged of our passions: hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, etc. Buy yourself into evil. There are also, among the inferior ones, those who are neither very good nor very bad, rather disturbing and enredadores, than perverse. Malice and inconsequences seem to be what prevails in them. It's the stupid or the foolish spirits.
14. The spirits do not perpetually occupy the same category. They all get better by going through the different degrees of the Spiritist hierarchy. This improvement is effected through the incarnation, which is imposed on some as atonement, to others as a mission. The material life is a proof that will suffer them repeatedly, until they have attained absolute moral perfection.
15. Leaving the body, the soul volves into the world of spirits, where it came out, to pass through a new material existence, after a lapse of time more or less long, during which it remains in errant state of mind.
16. Having the spirit pass through many incarnations, it follows that we all have had many existences and that we will have yet others, more or less perfected, both on earth and on other worlds.
17. The incarnation of the spirits always occurs in the human species; It would be wrong to believe that the soul or spirit may incarnate in the body of an animal.
18. The different corporeal existences of the spirit are always progressive and never regressive; But the speed of its progress depends on the efforts it makes to achieve perfection.
19. The qualities of the soul are those of the spirit that is incarnate in us; Thus, the good man is the incarnation of a good spirit, the wicked man of an impure spirit.
20. The soul possessed its individuality before incarnate; Retains it after being separated from the body.
21. In his return to the world of spirits, she finds all those she knew on Earth, and all her previous existences are drawn into her memory, with the remembrance of all good and all the evil that she has done.
22. The Incarnate Spirit finds itself under the influence of matter; The man who wins this influence, by the elevation and purification of his soul, approaches the good spirits, in whose company one day will be. He who lets himself be dominated by bad passions, and puts all his joys in the satisfaction of coarse appetites, approaches the impure spirits, giving preponderance to his animal nature.
23. The incared spirits inhabit the different globes of the universe.
24. The unincared or errant do not occupy a determined and circumscrited region; Are everywhere in space and on our side, seeing us and coiling us out of continuous. It's an entire invisible population, moving around us.
25. The spirits exert incessant action on the moral world and even on the physical world. They act on matter and on thought and constitute one of the powers of nature, an efficient cause of a multitude of phenomena until then unexplained or poorly explained and that they find no rational explanation but in spiritism.
26. The relations of the spirits with men are constant. Good spirits attract us for good, sustain us in the proofs of life and help us to endure them with courage and resignation. The wicked propel us to Evil: it is a joy to see us succumb and resemble them.
27. The communications of spirits with men are hidden or ostensive. The occult are verified by the good or bad influence they exert upon us, in our own way. It is up to our wits to discerthe good of bad inspirations. Ostensive communications are given through writing, word or other material manifestations, almost always by mediums that serve them as instruments.
28. The spirits manifest themselves spontaneously or by evocation.
29. All spirits can be evoked: those who have animated obscure men, such as those of the most illustrious characters, whatever the time they have lived; Those of our relatives, friends, or enemies, and get themselves from them, by written or verbal communications, advice, information about the situation in which they are in the beyond, about what they think about us, as well as the revelations that are allowed to them Make us.
30. The spirits are attracted to the reason of the sympathy that inspires them the moral nature of the medium that evenies them. The superior spirits acquire themselves in the serious meetings, where the love of good and the sincere desire, on the part of those who compose them, are predominant, to instruct and improve. Their presence drives away the inferior spirits who, conversely, find free access and can be left with all freedom among frivolous people or driven solely by curiosity and wherever there are bad instincts. Far from obtaining good advice, or useful information, they should only expect futilities, lies, jokes of bad taste, or mystifications, for they often take venerable names in order to better induce error.
31. Distinguishing the good from evil spirits is extremely easy. The superior spirits constantly use dignified, noble language, passed on from the highest morality, scoated from any inferior passion; The purest wisdom is of the counsel, which always aim at our betterment and the good of mankind. The inferior spirits, on the contrary, are inconsequential, often trivial and even coarse. If sometimes they say something good and true, much more often they say falsehoods and absurdities, by malice or ignorance. They mock the credulity of men and have fun at the expense of those who question them, flattering their vanity, feeding them desires with false hopes. In short, serious communications, in the broadest sense of the term, are only given in the serious centres, where the intimate communion of thoughts is ruled out, in view of the good.
32. The moral of the higher spirits is summarized, like that of Christ, in this gospel maxim: To do unto others what we would want others to do to us, that is, to do good and not evil. In this principle man is a universal rule of proceeding, even for his smallest actions.
33. They teach us that selfishness, pride, sensuality are passions that bring us closer to the animal nature, trapping us in the matter; That the man who, in this world, shuts out of matter, despising worldly futilities and loving others, is in the sight of spiritual nature; That each should become useful, according to the faculties and means that God has put into his hands to try it; That the strong and the mighty must support and protect the weak, because they transgress the law of God who abuses the strength and power to oppress his fellow man. They teach, finally, that in the world of spirits, nothing can be hidden, the hypocrite will be unmasked and patented all his torpedoes; That the inevitable presence, and of all moments, of those for whom we have proceeded poorly constitutes one of the punishments that are reserved for us; That the state of inferiority and superiority of the spirits correspond to unknown feathers and joys on earth.
34. But they also teach that there are no unfailable faults, that the atonement cannot be erased. The means of getting it finds the man in the different existences that allow him to advance, accordingly to his desires and efforts, in the path of progress, to perfection, which is his final destination.
This is the summary of the Spiritist doctrine, as a result of the teachings given by the higher spirits.
1 KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits ' book. 93 ed. Brasilia: FEB, 2013. Q. 4. P. 56.
2 KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits ' book. 93 ed. Brasilia: FEB, 2013. P. 23.