What Should It

What should I learn, follow or choose... can someone help me there! Spiritually speaking with Jesus and Kardec!

Let’s See: to learn one learns a thing at a time, our life is a learning flow in a relative sequence. Our reasoning follows logically a thing after another. To follow, we should follow Jesus,1 since his morals are the highest and lighter or smooth, 2because it is the morals of love, it is the doctrine that Jesus brought from the Father who sent him, 3 he taught lived and exemplified. 4 And as he is our Master he could say:' learn of me... ' 5 To choose, each one has in himself a certain direction, a certain intuition. A certain taste for spiritual things, so that in each step he sees his walk and he evaluates it, and on forth one goes straight ahead other step 6 and one assumes one’s spiritual walk by his own experience and his conscience guides him, his instinct or intuition dictates in his heart that there is God and tells him: life doesn't end up in the physical death and his hope occurs to the understanding and his faith becomes of the size of a grain of mustard seed which will grow more and more!. 7 Help me there...8 Yes I can help little within the use of reason according to my faith and knowledge of the Spiritist doctrine codified by Allan Kardec. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Matthew, 9: 9 - 16: 24. John,16: 7-15 - The gospel according to spiritism, XV. John, 7: 16. John, 13: 15. Matthew, 11: 29. The Spirits’ Book, Question, 118 & 612. Lucas, XVII: 6. The spirits’ Book, Question, 663.

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Most of our life is learned with rights and wrongs, successes and mistakes, sometimes we get right and others we err, and sometimes in the spiritual life it is as going to a restaurant of 'self service', we evaluated the great variety of foods and we chose something that we like, but so that we may like comes firstly the experience of I like this or I don't like this or that, so it is more or less our steps in the spiritual life. Once we grow within of our understanding and our spiritual degree, since it is' to whosoever hath to him shall be given' 9 of the same way that God sends us superior Spirits to help us to emancipate ourselves from time to time as we grow morally, He also helps individually according to our need and apprenticeship in which we may be, since it doesn't fall' a bird without His knowledge,' 10and He knows' what one needs before we ask Him'.11 Ever for 'In Him we live and have our being'; 12Let there be faith and trusting for God knows the multiplicity of stars by name 13 how much more us His Children! This work is a picked out of the Spiritist Doctrine composed of extracts from here and there of the works of Kardec in reference to the Doctrine and that it allows to be given an incentive to the understanding and study of the Doctrine that by itself is involving in God and soul, whose study of God and soul involves us indirectly in religion science and philosophy, bringing us a ratiocinated faith,14 which in my opinion answers the urgent questions of a lot of people who are not satisfied with their knowledge and who demand much more, and make researches until they find satisfaction to their understanding. It is for such people that it is worthwhile passing each other the little that we may have privately kept in our heart, ideals of better spiritual feeling. Thence it does give for to see how much we are valuable, not so much our body although it is a blinding marvel, 15 but some evaluation of our spirit which is immortal, that it is a moral being, that it is an expression of God, thence Jesus said: 'ye are gods. 16

Matthew, 13: 12-29 - Luke, 6: 38. Matthew, 6: 25, 26. 11 Matthew, 6: 32. 12 Acts, 17: 28. 13 Psalms, 147: 4 - John, 10: 3 14 The Gospel according to Spiritism, 19: 7. 15 Revelation, 15: 3. 16 João, X: 34, 35 e Salmos, 82: 6. 9

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Simplifying like this the truth of the value and greatness of our spirits that although now might be tiny weenie, they have in itself been planted the evolution seeds and of progress and little by little through the times will get to shine as Spirits of Light, because that is of the Will of God when creating us already see our future, as a farmer when sowing a tree seed already visualizes it and knows how it will grow and to be, and as one knows God could not be different in visualizing our future although far distant to us, yes we love Him and we praise Him for having created us and for His loving us eternally; the spiritist is not different in his love towards God, and for all of the littlest effects its sensibility arrives to the cause which is God, and In Him hopefully deposits his faith, Didn't Jesus say: ‘consider the lilies of the field?' 17 (This Arrangement was Prepared by Antonio Martinho Fernandes, to publish the Spiritism Doctrine gratuitously)

***** In the book of' ‘POSTHUMOUS WORKS' of Allan Kardec, he explains to us that actually in practice there are five spiritual choices; we see: The humanity's five alternatives “They are very few the men who live without inquietude for the day of tomorrow. If, he is disturbed by for what he will be after a day of twenty-four hours, with stronger reason it is natural to worry with what will be of us after the clear day of life, because it is not treated anymore of some instants, but of eternity. We will live or we will not live anymore! There is no compromise; it is a question of life or death; it is the supreme alternative!... Being interrogated the intimate feeling of the almost universality of men, all will answer: “we will Live." That hope is for them a consolation. However, a small minority makes an effort, some time ago above all, in proving them that they will not live. That school made proselytes, it is necessary to admit, and mainly among those who fear the responsibility of the future, they find more comfortable to enjoy the present without embarrassment, without being disturbed by the perspective of the consequences. But it is not there except the opinion of the smallest number. If we will live, as we will live? Will we be in what conditions? Here the systems vary with the religious and philosophical faiths. However, all the opinions about man's future can be reduced to five main alternatives, which we will recapitulate summarily, so that its comparison may be easier and that each one may discern, with knowledge of cause, the one that seems more rational to him and best answers to one’s personal aspirations and the needs of society. These five alternatives are the ones that result of the doctrines of materialism, of pantheism, of deism, of dogmatism, and of Spiritism. 17

Mateus, VI: 28.

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*** § I. Materialistic Doctrine Man's intelligence is a property of the matter he is born and dies with the organism. The man is not anything before, not anything after the corporal life. Consequences. The man, not being anything but matter, there is not of real and of enviable except the material joys; the moral affections do not have a future; the moral bows are broken without return in death; the miseries of life are without compensation; suicide becomes the rational and logical end of an existence, when the sufferings are without hope of a betterment; it is useless to impose oneself an embarrassment to gain ones bad inclinations; to live for oneself in the best possible, while one may be here; the stupidity of inconveniencing and of sacrificing ones’ rest, ones well-being, for somebody else, that is to say, for beings who are to be annihilated, on their turn, and who will never be seen again; social duties without a base, the good and the evil given as convention things; the social handbrake is reduced to the material power of the civil law. Note. Maybe it will not be useless to remind here, to our readers, some passages of an article which we published on materialism, in the number of the Magazine of August of 1868. "Materialism, we said, making itself noticed as it had not been made known in any other time, being put as supreme regulator of the Humanity's moral destinies, had for effect to scare the masses for the inevitable consequences of their doctrines for the social order; for that reason it provoked, in favor of the spiritualistic ideas, an energetic reaction which should prove to it that it is far away from having the sympathies as general as had supposed, and that it does a strange illusion to itself waiting one day to impose its laws to the world. "Certainly, the spiritualistic faiths of the last times are insufficient for this century; they are not in the intellectual level of our generation; they are, on many points, in contradiction with the right data of science; they leave in the spirit incompatible ideas with the need of the positive which dominates in the modern society; they have, besides that, the immense mistake of imposing itself through a blind faith and to proscribe the free exam; thence, without any doubt, the development of incredulity among the largest number; it is very evident that, if men were not nurtured, from their childhood, except with ideas to be later confirmed by reason, there would not be skeptics. How many people, reconducted to the faith through Spiritism, had told us: “If one had always presented God, the soul and the future life in a rational way, we never would have doubted!" "Of the fact that a principle receives bad or false application, Does it follow that it needs to be rejected? There are spiritual things, as of legislation and of all social institutions, which it is necessary to adapt them to the time under penalty of their succumbing. But, instead of presenting a better thing than the old spiritualism, materialism prefers to suppress everything, what spares it from seeking, and it seems more comfortable to those whom the idea of God and of the future importunes them. What would one think of a doctor who, thinking a convalescent's regime is not quite substantial for his temperament prescribes him to eat nothing at all? "What one admires to find, in most of the materialists of the modern school, it is the intolerance spirit, taken to their last limits, they who demand, continually, the right of freedom of conscience!... "... There is, at this time, of the part of a certain party, a revolt against spiritualistic ideas in general, in which Spiritism is naturally involved. What is sought it is not a better and fairer God; it is the God matter, less uncomfortable because there are no accounts to be rendered to Him. Nobody objects, to that party, the right of having their own opinion, of discussing the contrary opinions; but what one would not know to grant them is the pretension, at least singular for men who place themselves as apostles of freedom, of impeding, to others, to have faith to their own way and discuss doctrines that they do not share. Intolerance by intolerance. One is not worth more than the other..."

*** § II. Pantheist doctrine The intelligent principle or soul, independent of the matter, at birth is exhausted of the whole universal; it individualized itself in each being during life, and, in death, it returns to the common mass, as rain drops in the Ocean. Consequences. Without individuality, and without conscience of himself, the being is as if he did not exist; the moral consequences of this doctrine are exactly the same as the one of the materialistic doctrine. Note. A certain number of pantheists admit that the soul, exhausted at birth in the whole universal, it conserves his individuality for an indefinite time, and that it does not return to the mass except after having arrived to the last degree of perfection. The consequences of this variety of beliefs are absolutely the same ones that the

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pantheist doctrine so said, because it is perfectly useless to give oneself to the work to acquire some knowledge, of which it should lose conscience relatively being annihilated after a short time; if the soul, usually, refuses to admit similar conception, how much would it be more sorely affected, thinking that, in the instant in which it reached knowledge and supreme perfection, it would be that in which would be condemned to lose the fruit of his labors, losing his own individuality.

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§ III. Deist Doctrine Deism understands two categories very different of believers: the independent deists and the providential deists. The independent deists believe in God; they admit all his attributes as creator. God, they say, established the general laws which govern Universe, but those laws, once been made, work by themselves, and his author does not occupy himself with them anymore. The creatures do what they want or what they can do, without been disturbed by them . There is no, providence; God, not being in charge of us, nothing has to be thanked to him, nor asked to him. Those who deny all intervention of the providence in man's are as children that believe to be enough reasonable to liberate themselves from protection, of the pieces of advice and of their parents' protection, or that they would think that their parents are not obliged to be in charge of them anymore, since they placed them in the world. Under the excuse of glorifying God, very great, they say, for Him to lower unto his creatures, they make of him a great selfish person and they lower him at the level of the animals which abandon their progenitors to the elements. This belief is the result of pride; it is always the thought of being submitted to a superior force that offends the self-respect and of which tries to free itself. While some refuse that force absolutely, others consent in recognizing its existence, but they condemn it to the nullity. There is an essential difference among the independent deists of which we have just spoken, and the providential deist; this latter, with effect, believes not only in the existence and in the creative power of God, in the origin of things; believes even more in his incessant intervention in the creation and asks for it, but does not admit the external cult and the current dogmatism.

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§ IV. Dogmatic Doctrine The soul, independent of the matter, is created at birth of each being; and preserves his individuality after death; his luck is, since that moment, irreversibly fastened; his further progresses are null; he will be, consequently, for all the eternity, intellectual and morally, what was during life. Being the condemned bad to perpetual punishments and irreversibly in hell, of that stands out, for them, the complete uselessness of repentance; God seems, like this, to refuse leaving them the opportunity to repair the evil that they may have done. The good ones are rewarded by the vision of God and the perpetual contemplation in Heaven. The cases which can deserve, for the eternity, Heaven or Hell, are left for the decision and the judgment of fallible men to whom it is given to absolve or to condemn. (Note. If it was objected, to this last proposition, that God judges ultimately, one could wonder which is the value of the decision pronounced by men, once it can be revoked.) The convicts' definitive and absolute separation and of the elect ones. Uselessness of the moral aids and of the consolations for the convicts. Angels' creation or exempt souls of every work to arrive to perfection, etc., etc.

Consequences. This doctrine leaves without solution the serious following problems: 1st - Where the innate dispositions come from, intellectuals and moral, which make causes for men to be born good or bad, intelligent or idiots? 2nd - Which is the children's luck who die in a tender age? Why do they enter in the happy life without the work to which another are subject to for long years?

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Why are they rewarded without having been able to do good, or private of happiness without they having made bad acts? 3rd- Which is the luck of the cretin and of the idiots, who do not have conscience of their actions? 4th - Where the justice of poverty is and of the illnesses from birth, once they are not resulted from any action of the present life? 5th - Which is the savages' luck and of all who die unavoidably in the state of moral inferiority, where they find themselves put by the very Nature, if it is not given them to progress later on? 6th - Why does God create souls more favored, some more of the others? 7th - Why he calls to himself, prematurely, those who could have improved themselves if they had lived for a longer time, from the moment that it is not given them to move forward after death? 8th - Why did God create angels, near to perfection without work, while other creatures are submitted to the hard tasks, in the which they have more chances of succumbing than to come out victorious? etc., etc.

§ V.Spiritist Doctrine The intelligent principle is independent of the matter. The individual soul preexists and survives the body. The same starting point for all of the souls, without exception; everyone is created simple and ignorant, and they are submitted to the indefinite progress. No privileged creature is more favored some more than the others; the angels are beings who reached perfection after they had past, as other creatures, through all of the degrees of the inferiority. The souls, or Spirits, progress more or less quickly in virtue of his free will, through his own work and his good will. The spiritual life is the normal life; the corporal life is a temporary phase of the life of the Spirit, during which he covers, momentarily, a material wrapper which he undresses in death. The Spirit progresses in the corporal state and in the spiritual state. The corporal state is necessary to the Spirit until he reaches a certain degree of perfection: in him it developed through work in which he is subject for his own needs, and he acquires special practical knowledge. A single corporal existence being insufficient to make him acquire all perfections, he retakes a body as frequently as it be necessary for him, and, on each time, he arrives, he comes with the progress which he had reached in his previous existences and in the spiritual life. When he has acquired in the world all that in it could be acquired, he leaves it to go to other worlds more advanced, intellectual and morally, less and less material, and much like this continually until perfection, of which the creature is susceptible. The happy or unhappy state of the Spirits is inherent to their moral progress; their punishment is the consequence of their hardening in badness, so that, persevering in evil, they are punished by themselves; but the door of the regret is never closed to them, and they can, when they want, to return to the road of goodness and to the arriving, with time, to all of the progresses. The children that die in tender age can be more or less advanced, because they have already lived in previous existences, where they could make some good or to commit bad actions. Death does not liberate them of the proofs which they should suffer, and they resume, in useful time, a new existence on Earth, in superior worlds, according to their degree of elevation. The soul of the cretin and of the idiot one is of the same nature as any incarnated one; frequently, their intelligence is superior, and they suffer the inadequacy of the environment, which they have to enter in relationship with their existence companions, as the mute persons suffer for not been able to speak. They abused their intelligence, in their previous existences, and they accepted, voluntarily, to be reduced to the impossibility to be able to expiate the evil which they may have committed, etc., etc.

Spiritist belief. Preamble The Humanity's ills come from the imperfection of men: it is by their addictions that they themselves harm each other. While men are vicious, they will be unhappy, because the struggle of interests engenders, continually, poverty. Good laws contribute, without a doubt, for the improvement of the social state, but they are impotent to assure the Humanity's happiness, because they do not do except compressing bad passions, without annihilating

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them; in second place, because they are more repressive than moralizing, and they do not repress except the actions more saliently bad, without destroying the cause. In fact, the kindness of the laws is in reason of the men's kindness; while these be dominated by pride and by selfishness, they will make laws on benefit of the personal ambitions. The civil law does not modify except the surface; only the moral law can penetrate the interior forum of the conscience and to reform it. Being, therefore, admitted that it is the bruise caused by the contact of the addictions which turns men unhappy, the only remedy for their evils is in their moral improvement. Once the imperfections are the source of evils, the happiness will increase as the imperfections decrease. For good that a social institution might be, if the men are bad, they will falsify them and they will denature its spirit to explore it to their own advantage. When men are good, they will do good institutions and they will be durable, because everyone will have interest in their conservation. The social subject does not have, therefore, its starting point in the form of such or such institution; it is entirely in the individuals' moral improvement and of the masses. There it is the principle, the true key of the Humanity's happiness, because then men themselves will not think anymore in harming each other. It is not enough to put a varnish on the corruption, it is the corruption that is necessary to be extinguished. The principle of the improvement is in the nature of the beliefs, because the beliefs are the means of the actions and they modify the feelings; it is also in the ingrained ideas from childhood and identified with the Spirit, and in the ideas that the further development of the intelligence and of reason may fortify, and not to destroy. It will be by education, much more than by instruction, that will change the Humanity. The man who works seriously for his own improvement assures his happiness from this life; besides the satisfaction of his conscience, he exempts himself from poverty, material and moral, which are the inevitable consequence of his imperfections. He will have calmness because the vicissitudes will not do except touch him slightly; he will have health because he will not use his body for excesses; he will be rich, because one is always rich when one knows how to be satisfied with the necessary; he will have peace of the soul, because he will not have fictitious needs, he will not be anymore tormented by the thirst of honors and of superfluous things, by the fever of ambition, of envy and of jealousy; indulgent to the imperfections of somebody else, from them he will suffer less; they will excite his mercy and not cholera; avoiding everything that can harm his neighbour, in words and in actions, seeking, to the opposite, everything that can be useful and pleasant to the other ones, nobody will suffer with his contact. He ensures his happiness in the future life, because, the more he be purified, the more he will rise in the hierarchy of the intelligent beings, and soon he will leave this Earth of proofs for superior worlds; because the badly that he may have repaired in this life will not have to be repaired anymore in other existences; because, in the erraticity, he will not find but friendly and sympatric beings, and he will not be tormented by the incessant vision of those who would have lament of him. That men, living together, be encouraged of those feelings, they will be as much happy as our Earth can support; which, gradually, those feelings gain an entire people, an entire race, the whole Humanity, and our globe will take place among the happy worlds. Is it a chimera, an Utopia? Yes, for him who does not believe in the progress of the soul; no, for the one who believes in his indefinite perfectibility. The general progress is the resulting from all of the individual progresses; but the individual progress does not consist only of the development of intelligence, in the acquisition of some knowledge; that is not except a part of progress, and which does not necessarily lead to goodness, once one can see men doing very bad use of their knowledge; it consists, above all, in the moral improvement, in the purification of the Spirit, in the extirpation of the bad germs which exist in us; there it is the true progress, the only one which can assure the Humanity's happiness, because it is the denial of the very evil itself. The most advanced man in intelligence can do much bad harm; he who is morally advanced, will not do except good. There is, therefore, interest by all in the Humanity's moral progress. But what does make the improvement and the happiness of the future generations, for that one who believes that everything ends with life? What interest does he have in improving, in constraining himself, in taming his passions, of depriving himself in favour of others? He does not have any; logic itself tells him that his interest is in enjoying fast and by all possible means possible, once, tomorrow maybe, he may not exist anymore. The doctrine of nihilism is the paralysis of the human progress, because restrains man's vision on the imperceptible point of the present existence; because it restricts the ideas and it concentrates them unavoidably about the material life; with that doctrine, a man not being anything before, nothing later, all of the social relationships cease with life, solidarity is a vain word, fraternity a theory without roots, self-denial for the benefit of somebody else a fraud, selfishness with its maxim: each one for himself, a natural right, revenge a reason action;

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happiness is for the strongest and the smartest; suicide, the logical end of the one that, after resources and measures, does not expect anything else, and he can not remove himself from the mire. A society founded on nihilism, would take in itself the germ of the next dissolution. Others, however are the feelings of those who have faith in the future; who knows that nothing of what he has acquired in knowledge and in morality is not lost for him; that the work of today will bring fruits tomorrow; that he himself will take part of those future generations more advanced and happier. He knows that, working for others, he will work for himself. His vision does not stop in Earth: it embraces the infinite of the worlds which will be his home some day; he glimpses the glorious place that will be his share, as of all beings who have reached perfection. With faith in the future life, the circle of ideas enlarges itself; the future is for him; the personal progress has an objective, an effective usefulness. Of the continuity of the relationships among men, solidarity is born; fraternity is founded on a natural law and about the interest of everyone. The belief in the future life, therefore, it is the element of progress, because it is the stimulant of the Spirit: only it can give courage in tests, because it supplies reason, the perseverance in fight against evil, because it shows an objective. It is, therefore, in consolidating that belief in the spirit of the masses which is necessary to be called upon. However, that belief is innate in man; all of religions proclaim it; why did it not give, until this day, the results which one should expected of it? It is that, in general, it is presented in unacceptable conditions to the reason. Just as they show it, it breaks up all of the relationships with the present; since one leaves Earth, he becomes strange to the Humanity; no solidarity would exist between the dead and the living; progress is purely individual working for the future, one does not work except for himself, one does not think except in himself, and still for a vague objective that has nothing defined, nothing of positive on which the thought can rest with safety; it is, finally, because it is beforehand a hope rather than a material certainty. Of that it results in some the indifference, in others the mystic exaltation that, isolating man of the Earth, it is essentially harmful to the Humanity's real progress, because it neglects the cares of the material progress, to which Nature causes him a duty to compete. However, for incomplete that the results might be, they are not less real. How many men were encouraged and sustained in the road of goodness by that vague hope! How many did stop on the ramp of evil for fear of committing the future? How many noble virtues has not that belief developed! Let us not disdain the beliefs of the past, although imperfect that they might be, when they lead to goodness: they are in relationship with the Humanity's advanced degree. But the Humanity progressing, they want beliefs in harmony with the new ideas. If the elements of faith stay stationary, and are outdated for the Spirit, they lose every influence, and the goodness they produced in times past cannot continue, because they are not anymore to the height of the circumstances. So that the doctrine of the future life may take, from now on, the fruits which one should expect from it, it is necessary, before anything else, that it should satisfy the reason completely; that may answer the idea that one may have had of wisdom, of the justice and of the kindness of God; that cannot receive any denial of science; it is necessary that the future life leaves no doubt in the Spirit, nor uncertainty; that be as positive as the present life, of which is the continuation, as the day tomorrow is the continuation of the previous day; it is necessary that one may see it, that one may understand it, that one may touch it, so to speak, with a finger; it is necessary, finally, that the solidarity of the past, of the present and of the future, through the different existences, may be evident. Such is the idea which Spiritism gives of the future life; it is what gives it strength, it is because that is not a human conception, which would not have the merit except of being more rational, but without more certainty than the others. It is the result of the studies done on the examples supplied by different categories of Spirits who come in manifestations, which has allowed exploring the life extracorporeal in all of their phases, from the highest to the basest scale of the beings. The episodes of the future life are not, therefore, one more theory, a hypothesis more or less probable, but a result of observations; they are the very inhabitants of the invisible world who come to describe their state, and it is such situation that the most fertile imagination could not have guessed, if it was not presented to the observer's eyes. Giving the material evidence of the existence and of the immortality of the soul, giving us initiation in the mysteries of birth, of death, of the future life, of the universal life, turning us tangible the inevitable consequences of good and of evil, the Spiritist Doctrine does, better than all the other ones, to emphasize the need of individual improvement. Through it man knows where he comes from, where he is going, why he is on Earth; goodness has an objective, a practical usefulness; it does not form a man only for the future, it forms him also for the present, for the society; for his own moral improvement, men prepare on Earth the kingdom of peace and of fraternity. The Spiritist Doctrine is so, the most powerful element moralist, in him whom it addresses, at the same time, to the heart, to the intelligence and the personal interest well understood. For its very essence, Spiritism

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touches in all branches of the physical knowledge, metaphysicians and of morals; the subjects that it embraces are countless; however, they can be summarized in the following points that, being considered as acquired truths, they constitute the program of the spiritist beliefs. " (…).”

***** From ‘The Spirits’ Book’

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In ‘Introduction’ On the study of Spiritist Doctrine

VI The beings who thus enter into communication with us designate themselves, as we have said, by the name of spirits or genie, and as having belonged, in many cases at least, to men who have lived upon the earth. They say that they constitute the spiritual world, as we, during our earthly life, constitute the corporeal world. We will now briefly sum up the most important points of the doctrine which they have transmitted to us, in order to reply more easily to the objections of the incredulous. "God is eternal, immutable, immaterial, unique, all-powerful, sovereignty just and good. "He has created the universe, which comprehends all beings, animate and inanimate, material and immaterial. "The material beings constitute the visible or corporeal world, and the immaterial beings constitute the invisible or spiritual world, that is to say, the spirit-world, or world of spirits. "The spirit-world is the normal, primitive, eternal world, pre-existent to, and surviving, everything else. "The corporeal world is only secondary; it might cease to exist, or never have existed, without changing the essentiality of the spiritual world. "Spirits temporarily assume a perishable material envelope, the destruction of which, by death, restores them to liberty. "Among the different species of corporeal beings, God has chosen the human species for the incarnation of spirits arrived at a certain degree of development; it is this which gives it a moral and intellectual superiority to all the others. "The soul is an incarnated spirit, whose body is only its envelope. "There are in man three things -(1.) The body, or material being, analogous to the animals, and animated by the same vital principle; (2.) The soul, or immaterial being, a spirit incarnated in the body; (3.) The link which unites the soul and the body, a principle intermediary between matter and spirit. "Man has thus two natures.: by his body he participates in the nature of the animals, of which it has the instincts; by his soul, he participates in the nature of spirits. "The link, or perispírit, which unites the body and the spirit, is a sort of semi-material envelope. Death is the destruction of the material body, which is the grossest of man's two envelopes; but the spirit preserves his other envelope, viz., the perispírit, which constitutes for him an ethereal body, invisible to us in its normal state, but which he can render occasionally visible, and even tangible, as is the case in apparitions. "A spirit, therefore, is not an abstract, undefined being, only to be conceived of by our thought; it is a real, circumscribed being, which, in certain cases, is appreciable by the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. "Spirits belong to different classes, and are not equal to one another either in power, in intelligence, in knowledge, or in morality. Those of the highest order are distinguished from those below them by their superior purity and knowledge, their nearness to God, and their love of goodness; they are "angels" or "pure spirits." The 18

Editora Federação Espírita Brasileira,. 76ª edição, 1995. Edição especialmente cedida pelo Núcleo Espírita Caminheiros do Bem Departamento Editorial: LAKE - Livraria ALLAN KARDEC Editora Rua Monsenhor Anacleto, 199 - Brás Fones: 229-0935, 2290526 e 229-1227 CEP 03003 - Cx. Postal 15.190 São Paulo - Brasil

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other classes are more and more distant from this perfection; those of the lower ranks are inclined to most of our passions, hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, etc.; they take pleasure in evil. Among them are some who are neither very good nor very bad, but are teasing and troublesome rather than malicious are often mischievous and unreasonable, and may be classed as giddy and foolish spirits. "Spirits do not belong perpetually to the same order. All are destined to attain perfection by passing through the different degrees of the spirit-hierarchy. This amelioration is effected by incarnation, which is imposed on some of them as an expiation, and on others as a mission. Material life is a trial which they have to undergo many times until they have attained to absolute perfection; it is a sort of filter, or alembic, from which they issue more or less purified after each new incarnation. "On quitting the body, the soul re-enters the world of spirits from which it came, and from which it will enter upon a new material existence after a longer or shorter lapse of time, during which its state is that of an errant or wandering spirit. ¹ "Spirits having to pass through many incarnations, it follows that we have all had many existences, and that we shall have others, more or less perfect, either upon this earth or in other worlds. "The incarnation of spirits always takes place in the human race; it would be an error to suppose that the soul or spirit could be incarnated in the body of an animal. "A spirit's successive corporeal existences are always progressive, and never retrograde; but the rapidity of our progress depends on the efforts we make to arrive at perfection. "The qualities of the soul are those of the spirit incarnated in us; thus, a good man is the incarnation of a good spirit, and a bad man is that of an unpurified spirit. "The soul possessed its own individuality before its incarnation; it preserves that individuality after its separation from the body. "On its re-entrance into the spirit world, the soul again finds there all those whom it has known upon the earth, and all its former existences eventually come back to its memory, with the remembrance of all the good and of all the evil which it has done in them, ________________________________________________________________________ ¹ There is. between this doctrine of re-incarnation and that of metempsychosis, as held by certain sects, a characteristic difference, which is explained in the course of the present work. "The incarnated spirit is under the influence of matter; the man who surmounts this influence, through the elevation and purification of his soul, raises himself nearer to the superior spirits, among whom he will one day be classed. He who allows himself to be ruled by bad passions, and places all his delight in the satisfaction of his gross animal appetites, brings himself nearer to the impure spirits, by giving preponderance to his animal nature. "Incarnated spirits inhabit the different globes of the universe. "Spirits who are not incarnated, who are errant, do not occupy any fixed and circumscribed region; they are everywhere, in space, and around us, seeing us, and mixing with us incessantly; they constitute an invisible population, constantly moving and busy about us, on every side. "Spirits exert an incessant action upon the moral world, and even upon the physical world; they act both upon matter and upon thought, and constitute one of the powers of nature, the efficient cause of many classes of phenomena hitherto unexplained or misinterpreted, and of which only the spiritist theory can give a rational explanation. 'Spirits are incessantly in relation with men. The good spirits try to lead us into the right road, sustain us under the trials of life, and aid us to bear them with courage and resignation; the bad ones tempt us to evil: it is a pleasure for them to see us fall, and to make us like themselves. "The communications of spirits with men are either occult or ostensible. Their occult communications are made through the good or bad influence they exert on us without our being aware of it; it is our duty to distinguish, by the exercise of our judgment, between the good and the bad inspirations that are thus brought to bear upon us. Their ostensible communications take place by means of writing, of speech, or of other physical manifestations, and usually through the intermediary of the mediums who serve as their instruments. "Spirits manifest themselves spontaneously, or in response to evocation. All spirits may be evoked: those who have animated the most obscure of mortals, as well as those of the most illustrious personages, and whatever the epoch at which they lived; those of our relatives, our friends, or our enemies; and we may obtain from them, by written or by verbal communications, counsels, information in regard to their situation beyond the grave, their thoughts in regard to us, and whatever revelations they are permitted to make to us. ¹ Spirits are attracted by their sympathy with the moral quality of the parties by whom they are evoked. Spirits of superior elevation take pleasure in meetings of a serious character, animated by the love of goodness and the sincere desire of instruction and improvement.

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Their presence repels the spirits of inferior degree who find, on the contrary, free access and freedom of action among persons of frivolous disposition, or brought together by mere curiosity, and wherever evil instincts are to be met with. So far from obtaining from spirits, under such circumstances, either good advice or useful information, nothing is to be expected from them but trifling, lies, ill-natured tricks, or humbugging; for they often borrow the most venerated names, in order the better to impose upon those with whom they are in communication. "It is easy to distinguish between good and bad spirits. The language of spirits of superior elevation is constantly dignified, noble, characterized by the highest morality, free from every trace of earthly passion; their counsels breathe the purest wisdom, and always have our improvement and the good of mankind for their aim. The communications of spirits of lower degree, on the contrary, are full of discrepancies, and their language is often commonplace, and even coarse. If they sometimes say things that are good and true, they more often make false and absurd statements, prompted by ignorance or malice. They play upon the credulity of those who interrogate them, amusing themselves by flattering their vanity, and fooling them with false hopes. In a word, instructive communications worthy of the name are only to be obtained in centers of a serious character, whose members are united, by an intimate communion of thought and desire, in the pursuit of truth and goodness. “The moral teaching of the higher spirits may be summed up, like that of Christ, in the gospel maxim, 'Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you;' that is to say, do good to all, and wrong no one. This principle of action furnishes mankind with a rule of conduct of universal application, from the smallest matters to the greatest. ____________________________________________________________________ ¹ Vide, in connection with the statements of this paragraph, the qualifying explanations and practical counsels of The Mediums' Book - TRANS. They teach us that selfishness, pride, sensuality, are passions which bring us back towards the animal nature, by attaching us to matter; that he who, in this lower life, detaches himself from matter through contempt of worldly trifles, and through love of the neighbour, brings himself back towards the spiritual nature; that we should all make ourselves useful, according to the means which God has placed in our hands for our trial; that the strong and the powerful owe aid and protection to the weak; and that he who misuses strength and power to oppress his fellow-creature violates the law of God. They teach us that in the spirit-work nothing can be hidden, and that the hypocrite will there be un-masked, and all his wickedness unveiled; that the presence, unavoidable and perpetual, of those whom we have wronged in the earthly life is one of the punishments that await us in the spirit-world; and that the lower or higher state of spirits gives rise in that other life to sufferings or to enjoyments unknown to us upon the earth. "But they also teach us that there are no unpardonable sins, none that cannot be effaced by expiation. Man finds the means of accomplishing this in the different existences which permit him to advance progressively, and according to his desire and his efforts, towards the perfection that constitutes his ultimate aim. Such is the sum of spiritist doctrine, as contained in the teachings given by spirits of high degree. Let us now consider the objections that are urged against it.(…).

***** From ‘Heaven and Hell’

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Chapter, III: 4-10

Heaven Allan Kardec ‘Heaven and Hell’ translated by Anna Blackwell, edition LAKE - Livraria Allan Kardec Editora 19

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4. - Man’s opinions are always proportioned to his knowledge; and the discovery of the constitution of the world around him, like all the other great discoveries of the human mind, has necessarily given a new direction to his ideas. It was inevitable that, through the action of his newly- acquired knowledge, his primitive creeds should undergo considerable modification; “heaven” has been ousted from its former place, for the region 23 of stars, being boundless, can no longer be assigned as its locality. Where, then, is “heaven”? To this question none of the religions of the world can furnish an answer. Spiritism has come to resolve this enigma showing us what the true destiny of the human beings is. Starting with the nature of humans and the attributes of God, we arrive at the conclusion; that is to say, starting the known we arrive at the unknown, via logical deduction, without mentioning the direct observations that Spiritism permits us to realize. 5. - With the aid of the knowledge thus derived, we have ascertained that man is a compound being, consisting of a body and a spirit; that the spirit is the principal element of this compound existence, its reasoning and intelligent element; that the body is merely a material envelope which is temporally assumed by the spirit for the accomplishment of his mission upon the earth and the execution of the labors that are necessary for his advancement. The body, warn out, is destroyed, and the spirit outlives its destruction. Without the spirit, the body is only a mass of inert matter, like an instrument deprived of the arm that made it act.. Without the body, the spirit is still itself; that is to say, the essential element of the compound being called man, viz., life and intelligence. On quitting his material envelope the spirit returns to the spirit-world, which he had quitted in order to incarnate himself in a corporal body. There is, then, the corporeal world, composed of spirits incarnated in corporeal bodies, and the spirit world, composed of spirits who have put off their corporeal body. The beings of the corporeal world, in virtue of their material envelope, are attached to the earth or to some similar globe; the spirit world is everywhere, around us and in space, and has no boundaries or limits of any kind. In virtue of the fluidic nature of the body envelope. The beings that compose that world instead of creeping laboriously upon the ground transport themselves through space with the rapidity of thought. The death of the body is the rupture of the bonds that held them captive. 6. - Spirits are created simple and ignorant, but with the aptitude for acquiring all knowledge, and for progressing in every direction, through the exercise of their free will. Through the progress achieved by them, they acquire new knowledge, new faculties, new perceptions, and, as a consequence of these, new enjoyments unknown to spirits of less advancement; they see, hear, feel, and comprehend, what more backward spirits can neither see, hear, feel, nor comprehend. The happiness of each spirit is in proportion to the amount of progress accomplished by him; so that, of two spirits, one may be more or less happy than the other, simply as a consequence of his greater or less degree of moral and intellectual advancement, and this, without their being in two different places. They may be close to one another, and yet one of them may be in utter darkness, while the other is in the midst of respondent light; just as a blind man and one who sees may be in the same place, and yet the former will be unconscious of the splendors seen by the latter, who perceives the objects which are invisible for the former. The happiness and unhappiness of the spirits being inherent in the qualities possessed by them., they find that happiness or unhappiness wherever they may be, on the surface of the earth, in the midst of incarnates, or in space. A commonplace comparison will render this difference of situation more comprehensible. If, of two men who are at a concert, one is a trained musician possessing a good ear for music, while the other knows nothing of music and has only a defective ear, the first will derive enjoyment from the concert, while the other will remain unmoved, simply because one of them perceives and understands what makes no impression upon the perceptions of the other. It is thus with all the enjoyments experienced by spirits, those enjoyments being proportioned to their aptitude for perceiving them. The spirit-world is full of splendors, harmonies, and sensations that spirits of low degree, who are still under the influence of materiality, do not perceive, and which are only perceptible, and accessible, to spirits of greater purity. 7. - Progress, among spirits, is only achieved as the fruit of their own labor; but, has they have their free will, they labor more or less actively for their own advancement, according to their will; they thus hasten or retard their own progress, and consequently, their own happiness. While some of them advance quickly, others stagnate for long ages in the lower ranks. Thus, spirits are always the artisans of their own situation, whether happy or unhappy, conformably with the words of Christ, “each according to his works”. A spirit who remains behind has, therefore, only himself to thank for his backwardness; in the same way, he who advances has all the merit of his advancement and the happiness he has conquered appears to him all the greater in consequence.

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Perfect felicity is the lot only of the spirits who have attained to perfect purity, in other words, of those whom we designate as Pure-spirits. (Vide ‘The spirits’ Book’ question, 100 and sequence.) Happiness is only obtained by spirits in proportion as they progress in intelligence and morality. Intellectual progress and moral progress are rarely achieved together, and at the same time; but what a spirit fails to accomplish in one lifetime he accomplishes in another, so that his advancement in each of those two branches of progress is equalized in the long run. It is for this reason that we so often find highly intelligent men who are but slightly advanced in morality, and vise versa. 8. - Incarnation is necessary to the double progress, intellectual and moral, that has to be accomplished by a spirit; it ensures his intellectual progress by compelling him to employ his activity in the various pursuits of the earthly life, and it ensures his moral progress by making him feel the need which men have for one another. Social life is the touchstone that reveals the good or bad qualities of a spirit. Kindness, malevolence, gentleness, violence, charity, selfishness, generosity, avarice, humility, pride, sincerity, hypocrisy, loyalty. And treachery - in a word, all that constitutes human goodness and human badness - find their motive, aim, and stimulus, in the relations of each man with his fellows. If it were possible for a man to live alone, he would have neither vices nor virtues; for, though isolation may preserve from evil, it also annuls the possibility of goodness. 9. - A single corporeal existence is manifestly insufficient to enable a spirit to acquire all the goodness he lacks, and rid himself of all the evil that is in him. Would it be possible, for an instant, for a savage to attain, in a single incarnation, to the intellectual and moral level of the most advanced European? It is physically impossible for to do so. Must he, then, remain eternally in ignorance and barbarism, deprived of the enjoyments that can only be reached through the development of the intellectual and moral faculties? The simplest common sense suffices to show us that such a supposition would be the negation, both of the justice and goodness of God and of the law of progress, which is the law of nature. And it is for this reason that God, being supremely just and good, grants to the spirit of each man as many successive experiences as he needs for attaining to the perfection which is in the aim of his being. In each existence, a spirit brings with him, under the form of natural aptitudes, all intuitive knowledge, of intelligence, and of morality, all the gains that have been made by him in his previous existences. Thus each new existence takes him on a step further upon the road of progress. Incarnation is inherent to the condition of the inferiority of the spirit. It is no longer necessary when inferiority is overcome and there is continued progress in the spiritual state or in the physical existences of more advanced worlds that do not maintain earthly materialization.

10. - In the intervals between his successive incarnations, a spirit return, for a longer or shorter time, into the spirit-world, where he is happy or unhappy, according to the good, or the evil, he has done in his previous lives. The life of the spirit-world is the normal state of the spirit, the definite state towards which he is tending; for it is his spirit that is undying, while the state of incarnation is one of transition and of passage. It is especially in the spirit-state that he reaps the fruit of the progress accomplished by him during incarnation; it is also in that state that he prepares for a new struggle with ignorance and evil, and forms the resolutions which he will strive to put into practice in his next return to the discipline of human life. The spirit progresses also in erraticity, in which state he acquires special knowledge that he could not acquire upon the earth, and modifies the ideas acquired by him through his subjection to the actions of matter. The state of incarnation and the spirit-state are for him the source of two kinds of progress, each of which is equally necessary to his advancement; and it is in order that he may reap the special benefits of each that he is made to alternate between these two modes of existence. (…).

*****

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From ‘the Mediums’ Book’

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PART FIRST - PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. __________ CHAPTER, I: 1-5

DO SPIRITS EXIST? 1. Doubt concerning the existence of spirits arises from ignorance of their real nature. People usually imagine spirits to be something apart from the rest of creation, and the reality of whose existence has not been proved. Many think of them as imaginary beings, known to them only through the fantastic tales of their childhood, and regard their authenticity much as they would that of the personages of a romance. Without stopping to inquire whether those tales, divested of absurd accessories, may not have some foundation of truth, they see only their absurdities; and not giving themselves the trouble to peel off the bitter husk in order to get at the kernel, they reject the whole, just as others, shocked at certain abuses in religion, confound the whole subject in the same reprobation. Whatever ideas we may hold in regard to spirits, the belief in their existence is necessarily founded on that of the existence of an intelligent principle distinct from matter; this belief is therefore incompatible with an absolute negation of such a principle. We assume then, as the ground-work of our belief, the existence, survival, and individuality of the soul, of which spiritualism is the theoretic and doctrinal demonstration, and spiritism the practical proof. Let us then, for a moment, leave out of sight the fact of spirit-manifestations, properly so called, and let us see to what conclusions we are led by inductive reasoning. 2. If we admit the existence of the soul and its individuality after death, we must necessarily also admit, 1st, that it is of a nature different from that of the body, since, when separated from the body, it enters upon a phase of existence distinct from the destiny of the body ; 2d, that the soul retains, after death, its individuality and self-consciousness, and the capacity of feeling happiness and unhappiness, as otherwise it would be an inert being, and its existence would be equivalent to non-existence. These points being admitted, it follows that the soul goes somewhere ; but what becomes of it, and whither does it go? According to the ordinary belief it goes to heaven or to hell ; but where is heaven, and where is hell? People used formerly to say that heaven was '' up on high," and hell, '' down below ; " but what is " up," and what is "down," in the Universe, since we have learned that the earth is round, and that, through the movement of all the stellar bodies, what is " up " now, will be " down " twelve hours hence, and this throughout the immeasurable extent of infinite space? It is true that, by "below," we may likewise understand the "deep places of the earth;" but what has become of those "deep places," since geologists have begun to dig into the interior of the globe? What has become of those concentric spheres called the "heaven of fire," the "heaven of stars,"etc., since we have found out that the earth is not the centre of the universe, and that our sun is only one of the countless myriads of suns which shine in space, and each of which is the centre of a planetary system of its own ? Where is now the earth's importance, lost as it is in this immensity? And by what unjustifiable privilege shall we assume that this the means and tests of its progressive purification, that "angels" are only the souls of men who have attained to the highest degree of excellence; that all can attain to that degree by effort and determination; that those who have attained to that degree are God's messengers, charged to superintend the execution of His designs throughout the universe, and finding their happiness in these glorious missions,-and we surely attribute to the idea of our future felicity an end more useful and more attractive than that of a perpetual state of contemplation which would be only a perpetual state of inutility. Let us assume, yet farther, that (lemons" also are no other than the souls of wicked men, not yet purified, but who have the power to purify themselves like the others, and it must surely be admitted that such a theory is more in conformity with the justice and goodness of God than the assumption that they were created for evil, and predestined to a perpetuity of misery. Is there, we ask, in such a theory, anything opposed to reason, anything, in a word, that the most rigorous logic, or plain common sense, can find any difficulty in admitting? 20

The Medums’ Book Edited by FEB..Edição especialmente cedida pelo Núcleo Espírita Caminheiros do Bem Departamento Editorial: LAKE - Livraria Allan Kardec Editora Rua Monsenhor Anacleto, 199 - Brás Fones: 229-0935, 229-0526 e 229-1227 CEP 03003 Cx. Postal 15.190 São Paulo - Brasil

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The souls, then, that people space, are what we call spirits: and spirits are nothing but the souls of men stripped of their envelope of gross terrestrial matter. If spirits were beings apart from ourselves, their existence would be merely hypothetical ; but, if we admit that souls exist, we must also admit that spirits are nothing else than souls, and, if we admit that universal space is peopled by souls, we must equally admit that spirits are everywhere. We cannot deny the existence of spirits without denying the existence of souls. 3. All this, it is true, is only a theory, though one that is more rational than other theories ; but it is something to possess a theory that is not in contradiction with reason or science, and if, moreover, this theory is corroborated by facts, it must be admitted that our position has the double sanction of reason and experience. Such corroborating facts we assert to be furnished by the phenomena of spirit-manifestation, which constitute the irrefragable proofs of the existence and the survival of the soul. With many persons, however, belief ends here; they readily admit the existence of souls, and consequently that of spirits, but they deny the possibility of holding communication with them, "because," they say, " immaterial beings cannot act upon matter." This denial proceeds from ignorance of the real nature of spirits, about which the world in general holds exceedingly false ideas, erroneously regarding them as abstract beings, as something vague and indefinite; which is a great mistake. Let us, in the first place, consider the spirit in reference to its union with the body. The spirit is the principal being, because it is that which thinks, and which survives the body, the latter being only an envelope, a vestment, of gross matter, that the spirit throws off when it is worn out but, besides this material envelope, the spirit has a second envelope, which is semi-material, and which unites it to the first at death, the spirit casts off the first, but retains the second, to which we give the name perispírit.* This semi-material envelope, which has the human form, constitutes, for the spirit, a vaporous, fluidic body, which, though invisible to us in its normal state, nevertheless possesses some of the properties of matter. A spirit is therefore not a mathematical point, an abstraction, but is a real being, limited and circumscribed, and lacking only the qualities of visibility and palpability to show its resemblance to human beings. Why then should it not act on matter? Is it because its body is fluidic? But is it not among the most rarified fluids, those which we call "imponderable," as electricity, for example, that man finds his most powerful motors? Does not imponderable light exercise a chemical action on ponderable matter? We do not understand the precise nature of the perispírit but, supposing it to be formed of electrical matter, or of something else equally subtle, why should it not have the same property of action as electricity, when under the direction of a will? * See Vocabulary. 4. The existence of the soul and the existence of God, as consequences of each other, being the basis of the edifice of spiritism, it is necessary, before entering on the discussion of this subject, to ascertain whether our reader admits that basis. If to the questions: Do you believe in God? Do you believe you have a soul? Do you believe in the survival of the soul after death? he responds with a negative, or even if he simply says: " I do not know; I should be glad if it were so, but I do not feel sure of it " (a reply that would be usually equivalent to a polite negation, disguised under a gentler form to avoid wounding what he may regard as respectable prejudices), it would be as useless to continue our present argument with such a one, as it would be to demonstrate the properties of light to a blind man who did not believe in the existence of light: because, spiritmanifestations being neither more nor less than effects of the soul's peculiar qualities, it would be useless to reason thereupon with one who denies the soul's existence, and who would require a totally different line of argument from that of the present work. We therefore take it for granted that those who read this book admit the existence and survival of the soul; and if this basis be admitted, not as a mere probability, but as an acknowledged and incontestable fact, the existence of spirits follows as a natural consequence. 5. There still remains the question whether spirits can communicate with men ; in other words, whether they can exchange thoughts with us? But why should they not do so? What is a man, if not a spirit imprisoned in a body? And why should not a free spirit be able to hold converse with a spirit in prison, just as a free man can converse with another who is bound in chains? If you admit the survival of the soul, is it rational not to admit the survival of the soul's affections? Since souls are everywhere, is it not natural to believe that the soul of one who has loved us during life should come near to us, should desire to communicate with us, and should, for that purpose, make use of the means in his power for doing so? Did not his soul, during his earth-life, act upon the matter of which his body was composed? Was it not his soul that directed the movements of his body? Why then, after death, if in sympathy with another spirit still bound to an earthly body, should he not borrow an earthly body in order to manifest his thoughts, just as a dumb man makes use of a man who can speak to express his wishes ?

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***** From ‘Genesis’

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Chapter, IV: 1-9

The scientific note in Genesis 1. - “The history of the origin of nearly all ancient nations is mingled with that of their religion that is why their first books have been religious Works; and as all religions are allied to the spirit of things, which is allied to that of humanity, they have founded upon the arrangement and formation of the universe explanations limited by the knowledge of the times, and the founders of their systems. The result is that the first religious books have been the first scientific treatises, as they have also been the only code of civil laws. 2. - In primitive times, means of observation being very imperfect, the first theories upon the system of the universe were stained with grave errors upon; but, if opportunities for investigation had been as complete as they are today, men would not have known how to make advantage of them. They could only be the fruit of successive developments, and repeated studies of the laws of nature. By measure, as man has advanced in the knowledge of these laws, he has penetrated the mysteries of nature, and rectified ideas which he had conceived concerning the origin of things. 3. - Man has been impotent to solve the problem of creation until science has given him the key to it. It has been necessary that astronomy should open the doors of boundless space, and permit him to gaze into the infinite depths; that by the power of calculation he could determine with rigorous precision the movement, position, the volume, the nature, and the role of the celestial bodies, that natural physics should reveal to him the laws of gravitation, of heat, of light, and of electricity; but chemistry should teach of the transformation of metal. And mineralogy of the materials which form the surface of the globe; that geology should teach man to read in terrestrial beds the gradual formation of the same globe, and that botany, zoology, paleontology, anthropology, should come to initiate him into the science of the affiliation and succession of organized beings. By the aid of archeology he has been able to trace the progress of humanity through the ages. All sciences, in a word, complete one another: they carry their indispensable contingent for the knowledge of the history of the world. Without them man would have for his guide only his first hypothesis. Before man was in possession of these means of investigation, all commentators on Genesis whose reason rebelled at material impossibilities, continued to revolve in the same circle of ideas, with no power to depart from them. Science has come to the rescue by attacking the old edifice of belief, opening a way whereby the whole aspect has changed entirely. Once the conducting thread is found, the difficulties are promptly met. In place of an imaginary Genesis, we have a positive, and in some respect an experimental Genesis. The field of the universe is extended into the infinite. We behold that the Earth and the stars form themselves gradually in obedience to the eternal and immutable law, which testifies far more fully to the grandeur of God than a miraculous creation suddenly originating from nothing by a sudden act of divinity after ages of inaction. Since it is impossible to comprehend Genesis without the help of science, one can say most truthfully that it is science who has been elected to constitute the true Genesis according to the laws of nature. 4. - Have we reached in the nineteenth century a sufficient power of scientific attainment to solve all the difficulties of the problem of Genesis? No, assuredly not; but one thing is certain, that all the principal errors are destroyed, and the most essential foundation laid for undeniable principles. The yet uncertain points are, properly speaking, only minute portions, which, whatever the future may bring forth, cannot impair the whole. Notwithstanding all the resources of which it has been able to avail itself, there is an important element still waiting, without which the work can never be complete. 5. - Of all the ancient histories of the creation of the world and the human race that which approaches nearest to modern scientific revelation, notwithstanding the errors which it contains - some of the latter being now distinctively point out by the finger of science - is incontestably that of Moses. Some of these errors are such more 21

Allan Kardec, “Genesis” Edited by Spiritist Alliance for Books

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in appearance than in reality , as they spring from false interpretation of certain words, whose primitive significance is lost as they pass from language to language by means of translation into different tongs, or whose meaning is changed with the customs of the nations particularly the allegorical form peculiar to the oriental style, of which the literal sense was taken to the exclusion of the spiritual. 6. - The Bible contains statements that our reason, which has been developed by science, will not allow us to accept; and also others which seem strange and repugnant to us, because they are connected with customs which are not ours. But, notwithstanding this, it would be wrong not to recognize the grand and beautiful thoughts which it contains. Allegory holds a conspicuous place in it, and under its veils conceals sublime truths, which appear, if one seeks for them, in the foundations of ideas contained in them. Why has this veil not been sooner lifted? On one side it has been for the want of light which science and healthy philosophy alone could give, and, on the other, the beliefs in the absolute immutability of a creed, consequent upon a too blind respect for the letter, to which reason bent blindly, fearing that science might not accord with the lattice-work of beliefs which were built upon their literal sense. On account of the antiquity of these beliefs, it has been feared that, if the first ring of the chain should be broken, all the meshes of the network would at length separate. Commentators, therefore, have shut their eyes when doubt arose. But we cannot evade danger by shutting our eyes to it. When the foundation of a building falters, is it not more prudent to immediately replace defective stones by good ones, rather than o wait out of respect for the age of the edifice until there is no remedy for the evil other than its reconstruction from the foundation? 7. - In pursuing our investigation, even into the bowels of the Earth, and into the blue depths of the sky above us, science has demonstrated in an undeniable manner the errors of the Mosaic Genesis taken in its literal sense, and the material impossibility of thing having taken place literally as they are there represented to have done. It has thus given severe shocks to some ancient doctrines. The orthodox faith is disturbed, it believes that its very cornerstone is removed by the adoption of these new ideas. But which is most likely to be right, science marching prudently and progressively over the solid ground of figures and observation, without affirming anything before the proof of it is at hand, or history written at an epoch when means of observation were absolutely lacking? Should we believe the person who affirms that two and two make five, and refuses to verify it, or who says two and two make four, and proves it? 8. - But then it is objected, if the Bible is a divine revelation from God how can it contain mistakes? While, if it be not a divine revelation, then has it no authority? Religious beliefs may thus be destroyed for want of a foundation. It must be one thing or the other; either science is wrong, or theology is right. If theology is right, then an opinion contrary to its cannot be a true one. There is no revelation superior to the authority of facts. If God, who is truth, could seduce men from the path of rectitude either knowingly or unconsciously, he would no longer be God. If, then facts contradict the words which are attributed to him, the logical conclusion is, that he has not pronounced them, or they have been misconstrued. If religion suffers in some respects by these contradictions, the wrong must not be ascribed to science, which cannot agree with unreasonable statements, but to men for having prematurely founded absolute dogmas, which have been made a question of life and death, upon hypothesis susceptible of being overthrown by experience. We must resign ourselves to the sacrifice of some things, whether we desire to or not; we cannot do otherwise. As the world progresses, the will of a few persons cannot arrest it in its onward march. The wiser way is to follow it, and accommodate ourselves to the new state of things, rather than to cling to old beliefs which are crumbling to pieces, at the risk of falling with them. 9. - Were it desirable to impose silence upon science out of respect to texts of scripture regarded as sacred, it would be as impossible to do so as to stop the movement of the Earth. No religious systems have ever gained anything by sustaining manifest errors. The mission of science is to discover the laws of nature. Now, as these laws are the work of God, they cannot be contrary to religious founded upon truth. To hurl anathemas at progress, calling it a hindrance to religion, is to go contrary to the will of God. There is scarcely anything so useless; for all the anathemas in the world will not hinder science in its progressive work of bringing truth to light. If religion refuses to accompany science, it is left alone.

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From 'what is Spiritism' OF ALLAN KARDEC

Preamble “People who don't have of the Spiritism but a superficial knowledge, are naturally taken to do certain inquiries, to the which ones a complete study would give, without a doubt, the solution. But time and, frequently, the will, lack in them for consecrating themselves to the continuous observations. They should want, before undertaking that task, to know at least what it is about and if it is worthwhile to occupy themselves on it. It seems to us useful, then, to present, in a restricted picture, the answer to some of the fundamental subjects which are daily asked from us. That will be, for the reader, a first initiation and, for us, time gained for the dismissal of repeating the same thing constantly. The first chapter contains, under the form of dialogues, answers to the objections more common of the part of those that ignore the first foundations of the Doctrine, as well as the refutation of the main arguments of their opponents. That form seemed to us more convenient, because it does not have the aridity in the dogmatic way. The second chapter is consecrated to the summary exhibition of the parts of the practical and experimental science, on which ones, in the lacking of a complete instruction, the inexperienced observer should take his attention to judge with cause knowledge. It is in some way the summary of The Mediums’ Book. Objections are born, the more frequently, of false ideas that are done, prior, on what are not known. To correct those ideas is to fore advance to the objections: such it is the object of this small writing. The third chapter can be considered as the summary of The Spirits’ Book. It is the solution, for the Spiritist Doctrine, of a certain number of problems of the highest interest of psychological order, moral and philosophical, which are put daily, and to the which no philosophy gave, as yet, satisfactory solutions. That one searches to solve them through another theory, and without the key which Spiritism offers us, and one will see that they are the most logical answers and that they satisfy best to one’s reason. This summary is not only useful for the beginners who in it will be able, in little time and without much effort, to exhaust the most essential notions, but it is also for the followers to which it supplies the means to answer to the first objections which do not stop occurring to him, and, of another part, because here they will find gathered, in a restricted picture, and under a same exam, the principles which they should not ever lose of view. To answer, from now on and summarily, to the subject formulated in the title of this booklet, we will say that: Spiritism is at the same time an observation science and a philosophical doctrine. As practical science, he consists of the relationships that can be establish with the Spirits; as philosophy, it understands all of the moral consequences that elapse of those relationships. One can define it like this: Spiritism is a science which deals of the nature, of the origin and of the destination of the Spirits, and of their relationships with the corporeal world. "

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From ‘the spirits’ Book’ Chapter, V Considerations about Plurality 18

Of Existences

PLURALITY OF EXISTENCES 223. "The dogma of reincarnation," it is sometimes objected, "is not new; it is a resuscitation of the doctrine of Pythagoras." We have never said that spiritist doctrine was of modern invention; on the contrary, as the inter-communication of spirits with men occurs in virtue of natural law, it must have existed from the beginning of time, and we have always endeavored to prove that traces of this inter-communication are to be found in the earliest annals of antiquity. Pythagoras, as is well known, was not the author of the system of metempsychosis; he borrowed it from the philosophers of Hindustan and of Egypt, by whom it had been held from time immemorial. The idea of the transmigration of soul was, therefore, in the earliest ages of the world, a general belief, equally admitted by the common people and by the most eminent thinkers of that period. By what road did this idea come to them? Did it reach them through revelation or through intuition? In regard to this point we know nothing; but it may be safely assumed that no idea could thus have traversed the successive ages of the worlds, and have commanded the assent of the highest intellects of the human race, if it had not been based on some solid ground of truth and reason. The antiquity of this doctrine should therefore be considered as an argument in its favour, rather than as an objection. But, at the same time, it must not be forgotten that there is, between the antique doctrine of metempsychosis and the modern doctrine of reincarnation, this capital difference, viz., that the spirits who inculcate the latter reject absolutely the idea that the human soul can pass into an animal, and vice versa. The spirits, therefore, who now proclaim the dogma of the plurality of our corporeal existences reassert a doctrine which had its birth in the earliest ages of the world, and which has maintained its footing to the present day in the convictions of many minds; but they present this dogma under an aspect which is more rational, more conformable with the natural law of progress, and more in harmony with the wisdom of the Creator, through the stripping away of accessories added to it by superstition. A circumstance worthy of notice is the fact that it is not in this book alone that the doctrine in question has been inculcated by them of late years; for, even before its publication, numerous communications of a similar nature had already been obtained in various countries, and their number has since been greatly increased. It may here be asked, why it is that the statements of all spirits are not in unison in regard to this subject? To this question we shall recur elsewhere. Let us, for the present, examine the matter from another point of view, entirely irrespective of any assumed declarations of spirits in regard to it. Let us put the latter entirely aside for the moment; let us suppose them to have made no statement whatever in regard to it; let us even suppose the very existence of spirits not to have been surmised. Placing ourselves a moment on neutral ground, and admitting, as equally possible, the hypotheses of the plurality and of the unity of corporeal existences, let us see which of these hypotheses is most in harmony with the dictates of reason and with the requirements of our own interest. There are persons who reject the idea of reincarnation simply because they do not like it, declaring that their present existence has been quite enough for them, and that they have no wish to recommence a similar one. Of such persons we would merely inquire whether they suppose that God has consulted their wishes and opinions in regulating the universe ? Either the law of reincarnation exists, or it does not exist. If it exists, no matter how displeasing it may be to them, they will be compelled to submit to it; for God will not ask their permission to enforce it. It is as though a sick man should say, "I have suffered enough today; I do not chose to suffer-tomorrow." No matter what may be his unwillingness to suffer, he will nevertheless be obliged to go on suffering, not only on the morrow, but day after day, until he is cured. In like manner, if it be their destiny to live again corporeally, they will thus live again, they will be reincarnated. In vain will they rebel against necessity, like a child refusing to go to school, or a condemned criminal refusing to go to prison. They will be compelled to submit to their fate, no matter how unwilling they may be to do so. Such objections are too puerile destitution, has to endure many privations through the smallness of his means, and says to him, "Here is an immense fortune, of which you may have the enjoyment, on condition that you work hard during one minute." The laziest of men, in response to such an offer, would say, without hesitation, "I am ready to work for one minute, for two minutes, for an hour, for a whole day if necessary! What is a day's labour in comparison with the certainty of ease and plenty for all the rest of my life?" But what is the duration of a corporeal life in comparison with eternity? Less than a minute; less than a moment. We sometimes hear people bring forward the following lug argument: -"God, who is sovereignty good, cannot impose upon man the hard necessity of recommencing a series of sorrows and tribulations." But would 19

there be more kindness in condemning a man to perpetual suffering for a few moments of error than in giving him the means of repairing his faults? "Two manufacturers had each a workman no might hope to become some day the partner of his employer. But it happened that both workmen made so very bad a use of their day that they merited dismissal. One of the manufacturers drove away his unfaithful workman, despite his supplications; and this workman, being unable to obtain any other employment, died of want. The other said to his workman-'You have wasted a day; you owe me compensation for the loss you have thus caused me. You have done your work badly; you owe me reparation for it. I give you leave to begin it over again. Try to do well, and I will keep you in my employ, and you may still aspire to the superior position which I had promised you." Need we ask which of the manufacturers ',as shown himself to be the most humane? And would God, who is clemency itself, be more inexorable than a just and compassionate man? The idea that our fate is decided forever by a few years of trial, and notwithstanding the fact that it was not in our power to attain to perfection while we remained upon the earth. Fills the mind with anguish; while the contrary idea is eminently consoling, for it leaves us hope. Thus, without pronouncing for or against the plurality of existences, without admitting either hypothesis in preference to the other, we assert that, if the matter were left to our own choice, there is no one who would prefer incurring a sentence against which there should be no appeal. A philosopher has said that "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him for the happiness of the human race;" the same might be said in regard to the plurality of existences. But, as we have already remarked, God does not ask our permission in the establishment of providential ordering; He does not consult our preferences in the matter. Either the law of reincarnation exists, or it does not exist; let us see on which side is the balance of probabilities, considering the matter from another point of view, but still leaving out of sight all idea of any statements that have been made by spirits in regard to it, and examining the question merely as matter of philosophic inquiry. If the law of reincarnation do not exist, we can have but one corporeal existence; and if our present corporeal life be our only one, the soul of each individual must have been created at the same time as his body; unless, indeed, we assume the anteriority of the soul, in which case we should have to inquire what was the state of the soul before its union with the body, and whether this state did not constitute an existence of some kind or other. There is no middle ground. Either the soul existed before its union with the body, or it did not. If it existed, what was its condition? Was it possessed of self-consciousness? If not, its state must have been nearly equivalent to non-existence. If possessed of individuality, it must have been either progressive or stationary; in either case, what was its degree of advancement on uniting itself to the body? If, on the contrary, it be assumed, according to the general belief, that the soul is born into existence at the same time as the body-or that, previous to the birth of the body, it possesses only negative faculties-we have to propose the following questions: 1. Why do souls manifest so great a diversity of aptitudes independently of the ideas acquired by education? 2. Whence comes the extra-normal aptitude for certain arts and sciences displayed by many children while still very young, although others remain in a state of inferiority, or of mediocrity, all their life? 3. Whence do some individuals derive the innate or intuitive ideas that are lacking in others? 4. Whence do some children derive the precocious instincts of vice or of virtue, the innate sentiments of dignity or of baseness, Which often contrast so strikingly with the situation into which they are born? 5. Why is it that some men, independently of education, are more advanced than others? 6. Why is it that among the races which people the globe some are savage and others civilized? If you took a Hotentote baby from its mother's breast, and brought it up in our most renowned schools, could you succeed in making of it a Laplace or a Newton? What is the philosophy or the theosophy that can solve these problems? Either the souls of men are equal at their birth, or they are unequal. If they are equal, why these inequalities of aptitude? Will it be said that these inequalities depend on the corporeal organization of each child? But such a doctrine would be the most monstrous and the most immoral of hypotheses; for, in that case, man would be a mere machine, the sport of matter; he would not be responsible for his actions, but would have the right to throw all the blame of his wrongdoing on the imperfections of his physical frame. If, on the other hand, souls are created unequal, God must have created them so; but, in that case, why is this innate superiority accorded to some and denied to others? And would such partiality be consistent with the justice of God, and the equal love He bears to all His creatures? Admit, on the contrary, a succession of existences, and everything is explained. Men bring with them, at their birth in flesh, the amount of intuition they have previously acquired. They are more or less advanced,

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according to the number of existences they have previously accomplished, according as they are nearer to or farther from the common starting-point; exactly as, in a company made up of individuals of different ages, each will possess a degree of development proportionate to the number of years he has already lived; the succession of years being, to the life of the body, what the succession of existences is to the life of the soul. Bring together in the same place, at the same time, a thousand individuals of all ages, from the new-born babe to the patriarch of eighty. Suppose that a veil is thrown over their past, and that you, in your ignorance of that past, imagine them all to have been born on the same day. You would naturally wonder how it is that some are winkled and others little; that some are wrinkled and others fresh; that some are learned and others ignorant; but if the cloud which hid their past were dispersed, and you discovered that some 3. Can the man who has done wrong because the means of enlightenment have been denied to him be justly punished for wrong-doing which has not been the result of his own choice? 4. We endeavor to enlighten, moralize, and civilize mankind; but, for one whom we are able to enlighten, there are millions who die every year without the light having reached them. What is to be the fate of these millions? Are they to be treated as reprobates? and, if they are not to be so treated, how have they deserved to be placed in the same category with those who have become enlightened and moralized? 5. What is to be the fate of children who die before they have been able to do either good or evil? If they are to be received among the supremely happy, why should this favour be granted to them without their having done anything to deserve it? And in virtue of what privilege are they exempted from undergoing the tribulations of the earthly life? Which of the doctrines hitherto propounded can solve these problems? But, if we admit the fact of our consecutive existences all these problems are solved in conformity with the divine justice. What we are not able to do in one existence we do in another. None are exempted from the action of the law of progress; every one is rewarded progressively, according to his deserts, but no one is excluded from the eventual attainment of the highest felicity, no matter what may be the obstacles he has to encounter on the road. The questions growing out of the subject we are considering might be multiplied indefinitely, for the psychological and moral problems which can only find their solution in the plurality of existences are innumerable. In the present considerations we have restricted our inquiry to those which are most general in their nature. "But," it may still be urged by some objectors, "whatever may be the arguments in its favour, the doctrine of reincarnation is not admitted by the Church; its acceptance would therefore be the overthrow of religion." It is not our intention to treat of the question, in this place, under the special aspect suggested by the foregoing objection; it is sufficient for our present purpose to have shown the eminently moral and rational character of the doctrine we are considering. But it may be confidently asserted, that a doctrine which is both moral and rational cannot be antagonistic to a religion which proclaims the Divine Being to be the most perfect goodness and the highest reason. What, we may ask in our turn, would have become of the Church if, in opposition to the convictions of mankind and the testimony of science, it had persisted in rejecting overwhelming evidence, and had cast out from its bosom all who did not believe in the movement of the sun or in the six days of creation? What would be the credit or authority possessed among enlightened nations by a religious system that should inculcate manifest errors as articles of belief ? Whenever any matter of evidence has been established, the Church has wisely sided with the evidence. If it be proved that the facts of human life are irreconcilable, on ally other supposition, with a belief in the justice of God-if various points of the Christian dogma can only be explained with the aid of this doctrine, the Church will be compelled to admit its truth. and to acknowledge that the apparent antagonism between them is only apparent. We shall show, elsewhere, that religion has no more to fear from the acceptance of this doctrine than from the discovery of the motion of the earth and of the periods of geologic formation, which, at first sight, appear to contradict the statements of the Bible. Moreover, the principle of reincarnation is implied in many passages of Holy Writ, and is explicitly formulated in the Gospels:"When they came down from the mountain (after the transfiguration), Jesus gave this commandment, and said to them-'Speak to no one of what you have just seen, until the Son of Man shall have been resuscitated from among the dead.' His disciples thereupon began to question Him, and inquired, 'Why, then, do the Scribes say that Elias must first come?' But Jesus replied to them, 'It is true that Elias must come, and that he will re-establish all things.

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But I declare to you that Elias has already come, and they did not know him, but have made him suffer as they listed. It is thus that they will put to death the Son of Man.' Then His disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. (St Matthew, chap. xvii.) Since John the Baptist is declared by Christ to have been Elias, it follows that the spirit or soul of Elias must have been reincarnated in the body of John the Baptist. But whatever may be our opinion in regard to reincarnation whether we accept it or whether we reject it, it is certain that we shall have to undergo it, if it really exists, notwithstanding any belief of ours to the contrary. The point which we here desire to establish is this, viz., that the teaching of the spirits who proclaim it is eminently Christian, that it is founded on the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, of future rewards and punishments, of the justice of God, of human free-will, and the moral code of Christ; and that, therefore, it cannot be anti-religious. We have argued the matter, as we remarked above, without reference to statements made by spirits; such statements being, for many minds, without authority. If we, and so many others. have adopted the hypothesis of the plurality of existences, we have done so not merely because it has been proclaimed by spirits, but because it has appeared to us to be eminently rational, and because it solves problems that are insoluble by the opposite hypothesis. Had it been suggested to us by a mere mortal, we should, therefore, have adopted it with equal confidence, renouncing, with equal promptitude, our preconceived opinions on the subject; for when an opinion has been shown to be erroneous, even self-love has more to lose than to gain by persisting in holding it. In like manner, we should have rejected the doctrine of reincarnation, even though proclaimed by spirits, if it had appeared to us to be contrary to reason, as, indeed, we have rejected many other ideas which spirits have sought to inculcate, for we know, by experience, that we can no more give a blind acceptance to ideas put forth by spirits than we can to those put forth by men. The principal merit of the doctrine of reincarnation is, then, to our minds, that it is supremely rational. But it has also in its favour the confirmation of facts-facts positive and, so to say, material, which are apparent to all who study the question with patience and perseverance, and in presence of which all doubt as to the reality of the law in question is impossible. When the appreciation of these facts shall have become popularized, like those which have revealed to us the formation and rotation of the earth, they who now oppose this doctrine will be compelled to renounce their opposition. To sum up: - We assert the doctrine of the plurality of existences is the only one which explains what, without this doctrine, is inexplicable; that it is at once eminently consolatory and strictly conformable with the most rigorous justice; and that it is the anchor of safety which God in His mercy has provided for mankind. The words of Jesus Himself are explicit as to the truth of this last assertion; for we read in the 3d chapter of the Gospel according to St John that Jesus, replying to Nicodemus, thus expressed Himself:"Verily, verily, I tell thee that, if a man be not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And when Nicodemus inquires, "How can a man be born when he is old ? Can he enter again into his mother's womb and be born a second time?" Jesus replies, "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit. Be not amazed at what I have told thee; you must be born again." (Vide Resurrection of the Body, No. 1010.)” (…)

***** From ‘THE SPIRITS’ BOOK.’

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God and Infinity CHAPTER I GOD

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Edited by FEB. Edição especialmente cedida pelo Núcleo Espírita Caminheiros do Bem Departamento Editorial: LAKE -

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God and Infinity 1. What is God? "God is the Supreme Intelligence-First Cause of all things."¹ 2. What is to be understood by infinity? "That which has neither beginning nor end; the unknown: all that is unknown is infinite.'' 3. Can it be said that God is infinity? "An incomplete definition. Poverty of human speech incompetent to define what transcends human intelligence." God is infinite in His perfections, but "infinity" is an abstraction. To say that God is infinity is to Substitute the attribute of a thing for the thing itself, and to define something unknown by reference to some other thing equally unknown. _______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ ¹ The passage placed between inverted commas after each question is the reply made by the communicating spirits, whose very words are given textually throughout the whole of this book. The remarks and developments occasionally added by the author are printed in smaller type wherever they might otherwise be confounded with the replies of the spirits themselves. Where the author's remarks occupy an entire chapter or chapters, the ordinary type is used, as, In that case, no such confusion could occur.

Proofs of the Existence of God 4. What proof have we of the existence of God? "The axiom which you apply in all your scientific researches, 'There is no effect without a cause.' Search out the cause of whatever is not the work of man, and reason will furnish the answer to your question." To assure ourselves of the existence of God. we have only to look abroad on the works of creation. The universe exists, therefore It has a cause. To doubt the existence of God is to doubt that every effect has a cause, and to assume that something can have been made by nothing. 5. What is to be inferred from the intuition of the existence of God which may be said to be the common property of the human mind? "That God exists; for whence could the human mind derive this intuition if it had no real basis? The inference to he drawn from the fact of this intuition is a corollary of the axiom. 'There Is no effect without a cause.'" 6. May not our seemingly intuitive sense of the existence of God be the result of education and of acquired ideas? "If such were the case, how should this intuitive sense be possessed by your savages?" If the intuition of the existence of a Supreme Being were only the result of education It would not be universal, and would only exist, like all other acquired knowledge, in the minds of those who had received the special education to which it would be due. 7. Is the first cause of the formation of things to be found in the essential properties of matter? "If such were the case, what would be the cause of those properties? There must always be a first cause." To attribute the first formation of things to the essential properties of matter, would be to take the effect for the cause, for those properties are themselves an effect, which must have a cause. 8. What is to be thought of the opinion that attributes the first formation of things to a fortuitous combination of matter, in other words, to chance? "Another absurdity! Who that is possessed of common sense can regard chance as an intelligent agent? And, besides, what is chance? Nothing." The harmony which regulates the mechanism of the universe can only result from combinations adopted in view of predetermined ends, and thus, by its very nature, reveals the existence of an Intelligent Power. To attribute the first formation of things to chance is nonsense for chance cannot produce the results of intelligence. If chance could be intelligent, it would cease to be chance.

9. What proof have we that the first cause of all things is a Supreme Intelligence, superior to all other intelligences?

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"You have a proverb which says, 'The workman is known by his work.' Look around you, and, from the quality of the work, infer that of the workman." We judge of the power of intelligence by its works as no human being could create that which is produced by nature, it is evident that the first cause must be Intelligence superior to man. Whatever may be the prodigies accomplished by human intelligence, that intelligence itself must have a cause and the greater the results achieved by it, the greater must be the cause of which it is the effect. It is this Supreme Intelligence that is the first cause of all things; whatever the name by which mankind may designate it. (…)

***** NB. - Should occur to someone a strong desire to further a better vision of Spiritism, Doctrine codified by Allan Kardec, do search out in a library or book shop. The works of Allan Kardec; I am sure they are available at somewhere. Go on and good luck!

The End

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