The Revue Spirite of 1862

Part 6

We continue in  this issue the study of the Revue Spirite corresponding to the year of 1862. The condensed text of the mentioned volume will hereby be presented in sixteen parts, based on the translation of Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL.

Issues for discussion

A. Can we say that Spiritism gives people a moral satisfaction?

B. What is the main difference between pathological madness and obsessional madness?

C. Was Kardec especially fond of Christianity?

Text for reading

58. Nature, according to Kardec, adjusted the bodies to the degree of the advance of the Spirits that are going to embody in them. Hence the bodies of primitive ethnic groups ⁽¹⁾ have less vibrant strings than the bodies of spiritually advanced ethnic groups. (Pages 99 to 102)

59. Kardec writes about the fast growth of Spiritism. "There are several causes for this" - he says. "The first, and without contradiction, as we have already explained in various circumstances, is the moral satisfaction it affords to those who understand and practice it. However, this same cause in part receives its power from the principle of reincarnation". (P. 103)

60. Reincarnation is a key that opens new horizons, which explains countless issues, which are misunderstood; it explains the unexplained and reconciles all events of life with God’s justice and goodness. Without reincarnation, how can we explain the innate ideas? - Idiocy, cretinism, savagery, living side by side with the genius and civilization? - The deep misery of some alongside the happiness of others? - Premature deaths and so many other issues? (P. 106)

61. Ending the article, the Encoder informs that the acceptance of reincarnation gains ground daily and that in France its opponents are in a very small number. Even in America - says Kardec - where its opponents are more numerous, the plurality of bodily existences is becoming popular. (P. 107)

62. The Revue relates facts pertaining to the epidemic monomania found in a part of the Upper Region of Savoy, against which all the resources of medicine and religion have failed. The only means that produced some result was to disperse the individuals by several cities. According to Georges, in a message transmitted in the Spiritist Society of Paris, spiritualist or Spiritist magnetizers, rather than physicians, should be sent to that area to dispel the legion of evil Spirits that caused so much trouble there. (P. 108)

63. Commenting on the subject, Kardec states that it is necessary to distinguish pathological madness from obsessional madness. The first is produced by a disorder in the organs of manifestation of thought. In the second there is no organic injury. It is the Spirit that is affected by the subjugation of another Spirit that dominates and commands it. (P. 110)

64. Communications received in Bordeaux, The Hague, Sens, Lyon and Frankfurt on the theory of the fallen angels, previously published by Kardec, are in full agreement with the thesis presented in the Revue. Sound reason, say the Spirits in Bordeaux, cannot admit the creation of pure and perfect Spirits rebelling against God. (Pages 111 and 112)

65. Girard de Codemberg, author of a book about the Spiritual World, which contains eccentric communications denoting a manifest obsessive influence, died in 1858 and, when evoked in Bordeaux, he recognized the various errors contained in his work, among them the denial of reincarnation which he now admitted. (Pages 115 to 118)

66. The Spirit of Jean de La Bruyère, evoked in Bordeaux, states that, although man's intelligence has advanced, moral improvement has not taken a step. He acknowledges, however, that Spiritism will be happier in its actions: "Little by little you will conform to its Doctrine and reform the vices that we point out to you in life". (Pages 118 and 119)

67. The Revue publishes two poems by Elisa Mercoeur, received by Mrs. Cazemajoux in Bordeaux. (P. 120)

68. Does Spiritism have martyrs? Answering this question, Kardec says, initially, that Spiritism has never arrayed itself as a rival of Christianity, from which it declares itself a son. It fights atheism and materialism and rests on the fundamental foundations of every religion and the morality of Christ. "If Christianity were to be denied" - says Kardec - "he would deny himself, he would commit suicide". (P. 121) (Continues in the next issue.)

Answers to the issues

A. Can we say that Spiritism gives people a moral satisfaction?

Yes. It undoubtedly provides a moral satisfaction to those who understand and practice it, a feeling that receives its power from the principle of reincarnation, since reincarnation is a key that opens new horizons, which clarifies countless issues that are misunderstood, and explains the unexplained and reconciles all the events of life with the justice and goodness of God. Without reincarnation, how can we explain innate ideas? - Idiocy, cretinism, savagery, living side by side with the genius and civilization? - The deep misery of some alongside the happiness of others? - Premature deaths and so many other things? (Revue Spirite of 1862, pages 103 and 106.)

B. What is the main difference between pathological madness and obsessional madness?

Commenting on the subject, Kardec explains that the first - pathological madness - is produced by a disorder in the manifestation organs of thought. In the obsessional madness there is no organic injury. It is the Spirit that is affected by the subjugation of another Spirit that dominates and commands it. (Ibid, page 110.)

C. Was Kardec especially fond of Christianity?

Yes. The Encoder states in the Revue that Spiritism has never arrayed itself as a rival of Christianity, of which it declares itself a son. He fights atheism and materialism and rests on the fundamental foundations of every religion and the morality of Christ. "If Christianity were to be denied" – says Kardec - asserts, "he would deny himself, he would commit suicide" (Ibid, page 121.)

Editor’s Note:

⁽¹⁾ In the place of the word "races" we use the term "ethnic groups", which is more in line with the current stage of human knowledge which understands that there is only one race on Earth - the human race, which is divided into different ethnic groups, although belonging to a single trunk.