Spiritism was not founded by men, but is the consequence of revelations brought by the Spiritual Realm.
Spiritism does not belong to Kardec*
Marcus De Mario
marcusdemario@gmail.com
Spiritism does not belong to Kardec because it was not created by him; he is neither the founder nor the head of Spiritism; the Spiritist Doctrine arose from the teachings of the Spirits through various mediums, teachings that he collected, organized, studied, deduced their consequences, always under the guidance and review of the Spirits, which is why he, Allan Kardec, is called the codifier of Spiritism. His work was excellent, judicious, gigantic, and we owe a lot to him, who deserves due homage, but the doctrine was not thought up and developed by him, as he categorically states in What is Spiritism, in the answer to the last question of the item on Elements of Conviction, of the dialogue with the Skeptic:
“Here I interrupt you, you have honored me by attributing this system to me, for it doesn’t belong to me. It was entirely deduced from the teachings of the spirits. I saw it, I observed it, I coordinated it, and I try to make others understand what I understand; that’s all I’m responsible for. There is one major difference between Spiritism and other philosophical systems: all these systems are the work of more or less enlightened men, whereas in the one attributed to me, I don’t have the merit of inventing a single principle. We say: the philosophy of Plato, Descartes, Leibniz; we will never say: the doctrine of Allan Kardec, and this is excellent, because what importance would a name have in such a serious matter? Spiritism has much more preponderant helpers, close to whom we are no more than atoms.”
According to Allan Kardec himself, there is no such thing as a philosophy devised by him, and Spiritism is a philosophy, so it doesn’t belong to him, but to the Spirits; What’s more, we can’t talk about Kardecism, because it doesn’t exist, it didn’t produce anything on its own; nor is it accurate to talk about Kardecian codification, but rather Spiritist codification, i.e. codification, the organization of the principles that make up Spiritism.
In the introduction to The Mediums’ Book, referring to its second edition, Allan Kardec states:
“This second edition has been greatly improved and is more complete than the first. It has been corrected with special care by the Spirits, who have added a large number of observations and instructions of the highest interest. As they reviewed everything, approving or modifying it at will, we can say that it is largely their work. Not least because they didn’t just intervene in some of the signed communications.We only mentioned the names when it seemed necessary to attribute some longer statements as being quoted verbatim from them. Otherwise, we would have had to mention them almost on every page, particularly in the answers given to our questions, which seemed pointless to us.”
As we can see, the work was entirely revised by the Spirits, in such a way that each page would have to bear the name of this or that Spirit, since most of the texts belong to them, and not to Allan Kardec. Someone might say that Kardec exaggerated his modesty, but it would be inconceivable for him to exercise false humility, as this would be contrary to his good character, which he showed throughout his life, always having honest attitudes and unquestionable moral behavior.
It is regrettable when we see people of some prominence in the Spiritist movement, or coordinating/facilitating Spiritism study groups, insisting on talking about Kardecist Spiritism, Kardecism, Kardec codification and other terms that generate confusion, as they give the public to understand what Spiritism is not really about. We understand that many of these people find it easier to do this, because they can say that they disagree with Kardec’s thinking, or rather, with the codifier’s interpretation of certain teachings of the Spirits, countering thoughts that are true “guesses” without serious foundation, without doctrinal support. They want to force the existence of a doctrine, such as Kardecism, which doesn’t exist, keeping themselves in a comfort zone that shelters their own ideas, when they should conform their thoughts and actions to the principles of Spiritism, as taught by the Spirits and organized by Allan Kardec.
Kardec is an example of humility. When he had an idea of his own, he would submit it to the Spirits through questions and, even if he was contradicted by them, if the answers obeyed logic, reason and the universality of the teachings, he would accept the teaching and modify his thinking. In fact, his thinking was in line with the principles of Spiritism, never contradicting them, because he didn’t accept “guesswork”, he didn’t make interpretations that were unrelated to what the Spirits taught, becoming a great defender of the new doctrine that emerged with the launch in 1857 of The Spirits’ Book.
Let’s reiterate: Spiritism does not belong to Kardec, who cannot be called its creator, founder or leader; the doctrine originates from the Spirits; it has never been confined to the mind of a single individual, which was providential, because if it had, it would be subject to misunderstandings and could be contradicted by those who thought differently, or, what has already happened with several doctrines formulated by men, it could die with the death of its creator, and the truth is that Spiritism keeps growing, spreading throughout the world, because the voice of the Spirits is universal, and does not depend on this or that to be heard.
Finally, we can only ask: and we can’t think differently from what the Spirits have taught and teach? Naturally, yes, because Spiritism should not be accepted by imposition, but by understanding, however, every divergent thought must pass through the sieves of logic, reason, common sense and the universality of the teaching of the Spirits, and so far there is no one who has managed, face to face with the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine, to pass through these sieves unscathed.
Marcus De Mario is an educator, writer and speaker. He has published 36 books. He coordinates ‘Seara de Luz’, an online Spiritist study group. Editor of the channel ‘Orientação Espírita’ on YouTube. Producer and presenter of the program Spiritism and Education. Editor-in-chief of the magazine ‘Revista Educação Espírita’.
Note from the Editorial Board of Dirigente Espírita magazine: There are historical and cultural aspects in the Brazilian context that led to the adoption of the adjective Kardecist in the denomination of Spiritism to differentiate it from other spiritualist doctrines and practices. The semantic question of the term therefore embraces different perspectives.
