Spiritism: Encyclopedia - Spiritism

Spiritism

Spiritism is a religious and philosophic doctrine established in France in the mid 19th Century by Allan Kardec. The term was coined by him as the specific name of the doctrine he was about to publish but, given the fact that the word was created from roots taken from the common language, it was soon incorporated into the normal use and has been used to name other doctrines as well, though the original Spiritists protest against this usage.

During the late 19th century, many well educated people from Europe and the United States embraced Spiritism as a logical explanation of themes related to the Christian Revelation. However, most of the initial enthusiasm receded. But in some places the work of a few dedicated preachers managed to achieve a solid foundation — more notably, in Brazil, and to a certain extent in the Philippines. In Brazil, more than 4 million people declare themselves Kardecist spiritists, according to the last IBGE census data, which makes Brazil the largest Spiritist country in the world.

Spiritism has influenced syncretisms like Brazilian Umbanda and Vietnamese Caodaism.

Spiritism is not to be confused with spiritualism. Its use with that meaning is regarded as pejorative by both Spiritualists and Spiritists. Uncapitalised, the word, in English, is an obsolete term for animism and other religious practices involving the invocation of spiritual beings, including shamanism.

Spiritism - Spiritism and Related Religions

The term Kardecist Spiritism is often used, especially in statistics regarding religion, to differ Spiritism proper (as established by Kardec) and other types of practices and beliefs named alike. It is a quite stable religious denomination, especially strong in Brazil. Other religions and cults claiming the name are usually smaller, fringe religious groups that want to benefit from identification with a traditional, respectable and acceptable religion.

Spiritism is a collection of principles and laws, based directly on the teachings of Jesus and on further revelation received from Enlightened Spirits. Spiritists believe that their doctrine is the Consoler that was promised to mankind by Jesus, to "reestablish all things in their truer meaning". Kardecist Spiritism not only claims to be a logical successor of Christianity, but also to be a truer form of Christianity, purified from unnecessary elaborations and additions.

Allan Kardec claimed that, unlike previous doctrines which had been filtered by the imperfections of the flesh, the teachings collected in his books were closer to the truth God commanded His messengers (Angels or Enlightened Spirits) to transmit to mankind. The new doctrine emerged from a research carried on by Kardec on the works of several contemporary mediums.

Present-day spiritists see a fundamental difference between "Scientific Spiritism" (the study of spiritual phenomena) and "Kardecist Spiritism" (the religious and philosophical practice derived from them). The two aspects of the doctrine are seen as complementary.

Spiritism - Precursors

One thing Spiritists often have to deal with is the fact that the events and theories that influenced Kardec or based his initial interest on the subject are believed to be fake. These were the famous Fox Sisters and the phenomenon of the Spinning Tables. The hype of Mesmerism also contributed a lot to the early Spiritist practice.

Spiritism - Fox Sisters

In 1847 the Fox family moved into a house in Hydesville, New York which had been previously owned by one Venckman. The Foxes had six children, but only the youngest girls, Margaret (14) and Kate (11), moved to Hydesville with them.

Some weeks later they started to be disturbed by inexplicable noises all over the house, mainly rythmic knocks and raps. Sometimes the knocks became effectively blows and rocked the small wooden house so that nobody could sleep there. The Fox girls one night tried to communicate with the knocks and discovered that they appeared to be intelligent and could answer to questions.

After this finding, the Foxes invited neighbours and acquaintaces to see it, causing a commotion in the local community. Soon it was news, and spread all over the world. The public response -- and especially the content of the messages from the mysterious knockers -- disgusted the local authorities and prompted an investigation that blamed the two girls for the phenomenon, though the mechanism of the fraud was not exposed. The girls had to be saved from lynching by a good-hearted Quaker named Georges Villet.

The Fox affair was still very popular in France by the time Kardec first heard of the Spinning Tables

Spiritism - Spinning Tables

Just after the news of the Fox affair came to France, people became interested in what was termed "Spiritual Telegraph". But, as the process was too slow and cumbersome, a new one was devised, supposedly from a suggestion by the spirits themselves, the spinning tables.

A spinning table was a round wooden table, around which several people sat, with their feet resting on the chairs' supports and the hands on the table top. The "energy" channelled from the spirits supposedly made the table spin around and stop on the mark assigned to each letter the communicating spirit wanted. The system was an early, and less effective, precursor of the ouija boards that later became so popular.

Allan Kardec first became interested in Spiritism when he knew about the Fox sisters, but his first contact with it was by the spinning tables. Some of the earlier parts of the Spirits' Book were channelled this way.

Spiritism - Mesmerism

Spiritism early incorporated and has kept some practices inspired or directly taken from Mesmerism. Among them, the Healing Touch, the Passe and the "Energisation" of water.

Spiritism - An Overview

Spiritism - Basic Books

The basic doctrine of Spiritism (a.k.a. "the codification") is defined in five books written and published by Allan Kardec, collecting communications received from Enlightened Spirits.

1. The Spirits Book -- Defines the guidelines of the doctrine and clarifies its roots and relationship to similar or namesake doctrines.
2. The Book on Mediums -- Details the "mechanics" of the spiritual world, the processes involved in chanelling spirits, techniques to be developed by would-be mediums, etc.
3. The Gospel According to Spiritism -- Comments the Gospels, highlighting passages supposed to anticipate or base Spiritism. This was the first religious book to acknowledge the existence of life elsewhere in the Universe, based on Jesus saying "The houses in the realm of my father are many" (John, 14, 1-3).
4. Heaven and Hell -- A didactic series of interviews with spirits of deceased people intending to establish a correlation between the lives they lead and their conditions in the beyond.
5. The Genesis According to Spiritism -- Tries to reconcile religion and science, dealing with the three major points of friction between the two: the origin of the universe (and of life, as a consequence) and the concepts of miracle and premonition.

Despite being published from 1857 to 1865, these books remain as the core of the Spiritist doctrine and all further elaborations on it is based on them.

Kardec also wrote a brief introductory pamphlet (What Is Spiritism? and the Spiritist Magazine (Revue Spirite), where he was the most frequent collaborator. His essays and articles would be posthumously collected in a tome named Posthumous Works.

Spiritism - Doctrine

The five chief points of the doctrine are:

1. There is a God, defined as "The Supreme Intelligence and Primary Cause of everything";
2. There are Spirits, all of whom are created simple and ignorant, but owning the power to gradually perfect themselves;
3. The natural way for the perfection process is the Reincarnation, through which the Spirit faces countless different situations, problems and obstacles, and needs to learn how to deal with them;
4. As part of the Nature, Spirits can naturally communicate with the living people, as well as interfere in their lives;
5. Many planets in the universe are inhabited.

The central tenet of Spiritism is the belief in spiritual life. The spirit is eternal, and evolves through a series of incarnations in the material world. The true life is the spiritual one; life in the material world is just a short-termed stage, where the spirit has the opportunity to learn and develop its potentials. Reincarnation is the process where the spirit, once free in the spiritual world, comes back to the world.

Christ, the greatest moral example for humankind, is deemed to have incarnated here to show us, through his example, the path that we have to take to achieve our own spiritual perfection. The Gospel is reinterpreted in Spiritism; some of the words of Christ or his actions are clarified, at the light of the spiritual phenomena, that is presented as law of nature, and not as something miraculous. It's only because of our own imperfection that we can't operate similar things; as we evolve, we will not only understand it better, but we will be able to do similar things, for all spirits are created equal, and are destined for the same end.

As pointed out above, Spiritism stresses the importance of the spiritual evolution. According to this belief, we are destined for perfection; There are other planets hosting more advanced lifeforms, and happier societies, where the spirit has the chance to keep evolving both on the moral and intellectual sense. Although not clear from Kardec's works, later writers explain this point a little bit better; it seems that we cannot detect more advanced life forms in other planets, as they are living in a slight different plane from ours, in the same way the spiritual plane is superimposed over our own plane. There is no scientific evidence to back this claim, despite the still unfruitiful attempts to apply concepts from modern physics - quantum theory, multiple universes and so on - to explain it.

The communication between the spiritual world and the material world happens all the time, but at a varied level. Some people barely sense what the spirits tell them, in a instinctive way, while others have greater conscience of the fact. The so-called mediums have these natural abilities highly developed, being able to communicate with the spirits and interact with them by several means: listening, seeing, or writing through spiritual command (also know by kardecists as psychography). Direct manipulation of physical objects by spirits is also possible; however, for it to happen the spirits need the help (voluntary or not) of mediums with particular abilities for physical effects.

Despite the claim of a Christian base for its teachings, Spiritism draws heavily from eastern religions, most notably from Hinduism, Confucionism and Buddhism. It shares some elements with Rosacrucianism and Theosophy.

More on Spiritist Doctrine can be found in The Spirits Book.

Spiritism - Leading a Spiritist Life

Kardec's works do not establish any rituals or formal practices for followers. Instead, the doctrine suggests that followers adhere to some principles, which are regarded as common to all religions. Based on the actual content of Kardec's works and further elaborations by early adepts, like Léon Dénis, Spiritism was organised as a religion with the following characteristics:

• All practical Spiritism is free of any charge, which is within the Gospel principle that we must "Give for free what we receive for free." Spiritists are never asked any contribution. Spiritist Centres are maintained by donations made by those who appreciate their good work.
• The practice of Spiritism is held without exterior cult, within the Christian principle that God should be adored in spirit and truth. A Spiritist Centre has no exterior mark of its use, except for a (usually discreet) plate or sign reading its name (usually that of the founder or of a spiritual patron). They do not use icons, idols, crosses, pictures, etc. The presence of any such objects in a place purporting to practice Kardecist Spiritism is the surest proof they are not what they claim to be.
• There is no ministry within Spiritism neither does it adopt or use in its meetings or in its practices any of the following: vestments, alcoholic beverages, incense, tobacco, altars, banners, candles, processions, talismans, amulets, sacraments, the making of promises and the paying of penances, horoscopes, fortune telling with cards or sea shells, pyramids, crystals, rituals or any other form of material support. However, Spiritist Centres usually are dedicated buildings (in the sense that they must follow some architectural guidelines).
• Spiritism does not impose its principles. It invites all those who are interested in getting to know them to submit its teachings to the test of reason before accepting them.
• Mediumship, which permits the communication of the Spirits with Man, is a gift which anyone effectively has, independently of doctrinal guidance. Fully developed mediumship, however, is a rarer gift that must often be worked upon.
• Spiritist Mediumship is only that which is practiced based upon the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine and within Christian morality. Which means that it mustn't be done for money, fame or vanity.
• Spiritism respects all religions, values all efforts towards the practice of goodness and recognizes that "a true person of goodness is one who fulfils the laws of justice, love and charity in their greatest form of purity." Therefore they accept as "perfect spirits" people from other religions as well. Recent examples include Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Anne Frank. The most important requirement is the practice of Christian principles, abstaining from all evil, and looking forward for any opportunity to learn and improve in moral terms;
• There is a strong campaign against abortion and suicide. Spiritists believe abortion is murder and that suicide is an act of cowardice that leads to worsening of the conditions of a future life.
• Praying is deemed to be important to allow oneself to stay in tune with his spiritual friends and protectors. Praying helps to clear the mind from bad feelings and prepares the spirit for higher achievements. The prayer not need to follow a strict formulae, but it has to come from within the follower, and it has to express their true belief and dedication to God. Spiritist prayer is not formulaic, but reflects the person's current state of mind, much like Evangelical prayer. The most frequent subject of prayer is asking the guidance of God.
• Doing charity work is of utmost importance. According to the doctrine, we should be willing to donate not only material resources, but also our better share of love and care for the less fortunate.
• Spiritists are prompted to read a lot. Spiritist Centres usually have libraries and many publishings houses distribute cheap paperback editions of a myriad books in all genres, including literature, science, philosophy, history, poetry, etc. Spiritist authors are often expected to donate their copyright to works of charity or charge low amounts for it (as the purpose of a book is to be read and most people can't afford buying expensive books).

Actual practice of Spiritism includes a few activities, whose form vary widely from place to place. In some cases, more or less ellaborated rituals might be involved, despite the lack of explicit doctrinal prescription. In fact, anything that is not explicitly discouraged is lightly tolerated.

All groups carry on mediunic meetings, in which they either invoke or receive the spirits of deceased persons, which is done nowadays exclusivel for charitable reasons. Such reasons include bringing relief to the family of a recently deceased person, sending alway some evil influence that is lurking about someone and, quite usually, allow spirits of people that died an unfortunate or unexpected death and are unaware of their state. Often such meetings include the presence of suffering spirits, whose pain make blind and full of wrath, rebel spirits that do not want to heed by the "rules" or spirits that seek vengeance against those who did them wrong. In all cases, Kardecist approach is to listen to the spirits' complaints, pray for them, try to instruct them and invite them to come around frequently to share the benefit of their friendship.

A mediunic meeting is carried on around a wooden table, around which the mediums seat. Other participants may be invited to complete the table but they usually seat in benches around it. The meeting is carried on with dim light (often from ultra-violet lamps) in a room without windows. The door is kept closed (though not locked) during all the meeting. There is a "Book of Prayers" where visitors write the names of people (alive or not) they want to send prayer for.

As mediunic meetings are intended to deal with sufferers, they are not easy to cope with if you are weak of heart and has not read along the doctrine enough. Depending on the group you are with, meetings can be quite mild, with bland-faced people chanting prayers in a low voice while the mediums weep, whisper or mumble. But a usual mediunic meeting is a rather violent spectacle, in which the suffering, rebel or vengeant spirits take possession of the mediums suddenly and spit out bad words with harsh voices, often with blows on the table or frantic movement of the eyes and the neck.

Another important venue of practice for spiritists is charity work. Most spiritist centers maintain some kind of charitable activity. It's common for a center to specialize on one type of assistance, for example: elder people, poor pregnant woman and mothers with newborn babies or abandoned children. In such cases, assistance can range from educational activities, supply of food or medication, and social integration, up to the maintenance of private asylums for the unassisted. These entities are maintained by donations from the community at large, which in many cases includes people that are not spiritists, but feel comfortable about doing so due to the transparent work done by those centers. In Brazil nearly all Spiritist centres are recognised as both religious temples and charities.

Spiritism - Organization

Kardecist Spiritism is not always recognised as an actual religion because it proposes a rather different approach, as it:

• does not require membership or regular frequency;
• tolerates all other religions, if they agree with the basic moral teachings of Jesus;
• tries not to be opposed to science, instead trying to harmonise with it;
• does not make use of any formal adoration, except prayer;
• does not proselitise;
• emphasises reading and education as fundamental to personal enlightenment;
• is active on pacifism and internationalism;
• does not boast to be the only holder of the truth.

Spiritism has no temples: each "Spiritist Centre" is a place where people meet to have lectures on doctrine, share mutual support, receive the Blessing_(spiritism), drink "energised" water and (if prepared) to attend to Mediunic Meetings in which contact is made with the deceased (for the benefit of both them and the living) with the help of mediums.

The Centres are very active on charity, maintaining free literacy schools, hospitals or clinics (practising "normal" medicine), libraries and addiction recovery clinics. The most recognisable activity carried by them is, actually, helping the poor by distributing soup, clothes, blankets and schoolbooks. They are also very active in campaigning against abortion, suicide and addictions.

In Brazil, Spiritism is organised nationwide by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, which is affilited to the International Kardecist Spiritism Union, located in Paris, France.

Spiritist Centres (and also the BSF) are also active book publishers.

Spiritism - The Role of Spiritism

Spiritism - Spiritism as a Religion

Kardec defined his doctrine as "Religion, Science and Philosophy. It is a religion in the sense that it is concerned with the word of God; it is the science that studies spiritual phenomena and it is the moral philosophy behind all Christian denominations.

He embraced all Christian ramifications like a single Religion, derived from the word of Jesus, needing a new revelation, which was made on that moment by spirits. Therefore, the rituals and the organisation are taken from whatever religion one follows, though what really matters are not the exterior ritual and practices but the moving spirit behind that.

Spiritism was only established as a religion since its active participants were (and still often are) expelled from their religions but still felt the need for a place to practice some kind of worship and religious work.

Spiritism - Spiritism as Science

Despite the firm belief on the part of most scientists that Spiritism and Science are mutually excludent, Spiritists argue that this is only the case with Materialist Science. Some Spiritists even accept skepticism as an acceptable approach to the phenomenon and that one should only become a Spiritist after being personally convinced.

Spiritists claim that the name Spiritism should also be used to name the science studying the survival of the human soul and the communication with it.

Spiritism - Spiritism and Other Religions

Spiritism - Spiritism and Christianism

Christianism has been traditionally critic of Spiritism, mostly because the Mosaic Law clearly forbade the Jewish people all forms of communication with the dead (Deut. 18: 10-14). Modern Christian exegesis holds that the supposed spirits of the dead are actually fallen angels.

Most of the Christian opposition to Spiritism is found among Evangelical Christians, especially those of Lutheran doctrine, who belive salvation is a free gift of God, which we are unworthy of. Contrary to this, Spiritism states that all spiritis will eventually attain full illumination. Christian Fundamentalists also reject spiritism following the Mosaic Law on the subject.

The Catholic Church clearly forbids its members to take part in mediunic sessions, or any type of reunion concerning the evocation or the communication of spirits. Most religions have a similar position, however, depending on the country, there seems to be more tolerance towards spiritism. This is especially observable in Brazil.

Spiritism - Spiritism Through History

Mediumship and other phenomena studied by Spiritism haven't been "created" by Kardec nor are properly recent. They existed since the dawn of mankind, having manifested in most primitive religions, but being more closely related to Shamanism. Most other religions, however, contain them in some degree. The Catholic worship of the saints, for instance, is likened to the veneration of the enlightened spirits. The manifestation of the Holy Ghost in Pentecost is explained by Spiritism as a mass manifestation of mediumship.

Most Eastern religions (and some ancient Western ones) reserve a central role for the worship, or the veneration of the ancestors (For this reason, Spiritism has found great resistance outside the West. Actually, it has remained restricted almost exclusively to Brazil).

In Ancient Greece it was believed that the dead inhabited the Hades and that it was possible to reach them, either by mediumship or by a type of astral projection. Ulysses and Orpheus are two characters who went to the Hades eventually. In the Illiad, Achilles and Ulysses also used a bloody sacrifice to summon the sould of the dead.

In the Middle Ages, as an influence of the Germanic peoples, it was believed that the dead could eventually come back and haunt persons or places; this being the origin of the legends of ghosts and haunted houses.

By the time of William Shakespeare popular belief on ghosts was widespread in Britain and he used them as plot devices in several of his works, like Hamlet, Julius Caesar (play) and Macbeth.

Asian Shamans claimed to have fully accomplished the ability to communicate with the dead and the gods and served as intermediates between them and the living people. American Native medicine men also claimed the same ability.

Spiritism - Syncretic Religions

The name Spiritism was once used by Afro-Brazilian Cults as a disguise, as the society used to have a strong prejudice against their religious practices (which were effectively forbidden by law until 1950).

These religions consist basically in the worship of gods of African (Orisha) and Brazilian (Caboclo and Preto Velho) entities, with a varied degree of syncretism, usually with strong catholic influence. They are: Candomblé, Xambá, Batuque and Umbanda (The name Macumba is deemed as pejorative). Since these entities do manifest in a very similar way from that of the Spirits from Spiritism, the association is natural.

Because of the misuse of the term Spiritism in the past to designate these cults, persists a confusion regarding the religion. This confusion is often resolved by refering to Spiritism as Kardecism or Kardecist Spiritism.

Spiritism - See Also

• Allan Kardec
• The Spirits Book
• The Book on Mediums
• The Gospel According to Spiritism
• Heaven and Hell (Allan Kardec)
• The Genesis
• Chico Xavier
• Karma in Christianity

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Spiritism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki