Due to the fact that some colleagues say that the journalist and writer Jose Herculano Pires - rightly named “the best meter that measured Kardec” – began to have a critical view of the works of Andre Luiz, we decided to research in his literary production to know if, in fact, there was some change of opinion.
1) The Spirit and Time
[…] Study and debate must be confined to the works of the Codification. To replace the fundamental works by others, whether psychographics or not, is a drawback to be avoided. […] All Kardec's works must be included in these studies, from the initial books, through the Codification itself, including the volumes of the Spiritist Magazine. We need to be convinced of this reality that not everyone reaches: Spiritism is Kardec because he was the organizer of the Doctrine, permanently assisted by the Spirit of Truth. All other Spiritist books, mediumistic or not, are subsidiary. To study, for example, a work by Emmanuel or Andre Luiz without relating it to the works of Kardec, on the grounds that these spiritual authors have surpassed the Master (whose works we do not yet know sufficiently) is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of the meaning and nature of the Doctrine. These and other reputable authors contribute to our greater understanding of Kardec. They cannot replace him. […]. (PIRES, 2003, pages 190-191, emphasis added)
2) Dialogue of the living
The Spiritist Group Emmanuel - GEEM published this work, in which Herculano Pires and Chico Xavier participate. Herculano Pires, signing with the pseudonym “Brother Saul” writes several articles, of which we highlight the following excerpts:
Chico Xavier received through psychographics, in the series Nosso Lar (Our Home) by Andre Luiz, and in other writings, curious descriptions of Spirits about the spiritual influence in our lives through dreams. And the episode that he tells us is a spontaneous proof of the legitimacy of the Spiritist dream theory, contained in The Book of Spirits. One more proof, because in fact there are many spontaneous tests given around the world. (XAVIER and PIRES, 2011, p. 143, emphasis added).
3) Mediumship
[…] The mediumship of clairvoyance exists, but for the purpose of aiding the research or for demonstrations of the Spiritist truth, but never for the creation of anomalous conditions in the mediumistic field. The mediumship works themselves, psychographics, which describe life in the spiritual world with great detail, must be viewed with reserve by the Spiritists scholars. Emmanuel explains, prefacing a book by Andre Luiz that the spiritual author uses analogical figures to explain facts and things that could not be reliably explained in our human language. The two extreme positions are dangerous: those who do not accept these works as valid and those who intend to replace them with the works of Kardec. The principles of the Codification cannot be altered by the work of an isolated Spirit. […]. (PIRES, 1987, page 27, emphasis added)
[…] Books such as In the Invisible, by Leon Denis, and the books of mediumistic orientation by Emmanuel and Andre Luiz may also be used as subsidiaries, but never as basic works of the Doctrine. Without this criterion, many Centers and Groups, and even large institutions, fell into a plan of church mysticism and priestly authoritarianism that disfigured and ridiculed Spiritism. […]. (PIRES, 1987, page 55, emphasis added)
4) At the time of testimony
In the fulfillment of his luminous mediumship, without complaining about his fidelity to Kardec regarding the basic principles of the Spiritist Doctrine, Chico Xavier established himself on the Spiritist milieu of Brazil and the World as an example worthy of admiration and respect. When certain confreres began to state that the books of Emmanuel and Andre Luiz constituted a doctrinal reform, these two Spirits, followed by Bezerra de Menezes and other luminaries of Spirituality, began to convey messages of appreciation for Kardec's work. Emmanuel, before the emergence of currents called of Emmanuelists and Andreluizists even transmitted a series of books corresponding to each one of the works of the Codification commenting the fundamental passages of these works.
Chico Xavier never intended to supersede Kardec, never enlisted among the reformers and overcomers of the Encoder. He did not even accept, at any time, that they would consider him as a Spiritist leader. He always remained in his position as a medium, an intermediary of the Spirits, considering himself a humble servant of Spiritism. […]. (PIRES and XAVIER, 1978, page 34, emphasis added)
5) Vampirism
[…] Andre Luiz refers to the ovoids, Spirits that have lost their spiritual body and find themselves enclosed in their selves, and wrapped in a kind of membrane. This reminds us of Sartre's theory of in itself, the former form of the spiritual being, which breaks it by projecting itself into existence for the sake of communication. The vampire action of these ovoids is accepted by many Spiritists lovers of novelties.
But this novelty has neither scientific conditions nor methodological support to be integrated into the Doctrine. It is a piece of information isolated from a Spirit. […] Spiritism would be subject to the most complete deformation if the Spiritists indulged in the delirium of hunters of novelties. Andre Luiz manifests himself as a neophyte excited by the doctrine, sometimes using terms that deviate from the doctrinal terminology and concepts that do not always fit the Spiritist principles. The broad freedom that Spiritism gives its followers has its limits strictly fixed in the Kardecian methodology. (PIRES, 1980, pages 15-16, emphasis added)
6) The mystery of good and evil
Chapter - Descriptions of the spiritual life in the lower zones of space, which deals with the regions in which Spirits remain attached to the forms of material life - “Action and Reaction” by Andre Luiz, a contribution of the Spirits for the centenary celebrations:
As you can see, “Action and Reaction”, a new book by Andre Luiz, which the Brazilian Spiritist Federation has just published, is a spiritual contribution to the centenary celebrations. And what an excellent contribution! The title is enough to indicate its content. Andre Luiz gives a broad exposition of the problem of action and reaction, through examples taken directly from the dark areas where the suffering Spirits live.
The books of Andre Luiz, which already constitute a large collection, are worth a true work of illustration of the Spiritist principles, through reports of episodes lived in the spiritual planes. In Our Home, the first volume of the series, we have a detailed description of a spiritual city, designed for the preparation of creatures for higher spirituality. In The Messengers, the Dantesque description of the suffering zones, purgatorial or infernal regions - as you wish - in which the souls of those who could not understand the opportunities of earthly incarnation drag on. Messengers are the superior Spirits, who descend into the dark areas or the very face of the Earth to bring help to the creatures given to despair, anguish, remorse and all forms of spiritual suffering.
In "Action and Reaction" the facts also take place in a spiritual zone densely charged with material influences. […].
To those who do not know the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine and are unfamiliar with the descriptions of the spiritual zones closest to the Earth's crust, all of this may seem illusory, imaginary, unlikely. But those who know that Spirits are nothing more than disembodied men and that, like earthly men, live their lives, perform their works and perform them - they understand well the descriptions of Andre Luiz.
There are those who do not admit the existence of such concrete things on the spiritual plane. However, Andre Luiz refers to the lower zones, those in which the Spirits, still too attached to the forms of material life, were unable to “free themselves in spirit”. It is edifying to see in “Action and Reaction” how the Superior Spirits work in these regions, giving their charitable assistance to the brothers who have strayed along the selfish paths of earthly life. (PIRES, 1992, pages 72-74, emphasis added)
7) Infinity and finite
Chapter - Spiritist messages abroad confirm those received in Brazil, the subject of which are Books authored by Chico Xavier in Confrontation with French and English Works - “Life in the Invisible Worlds”, by the Anglican Reverend Robert Hugh Benson, published in Portuguese:
Many people find it difficult to accept the descriptions of life from beyond the grave in the books of Andre Luiz, psychographics by Chico Xavier. Even among Spiritists, already accustomed to dealing with problems on the "other side of life," these descriptions caused in the beginning, and still today cause certain reluctance. Emmanuel explained, quite clearly and happily, in the preface to The Messengers, that Andre Luz's accounts should not be taken literally, but as an effort to objectify, in earthly language, the visions of the spiritual world. Nevertheless, the extreme similarity of life in space to life on Earth still disturbs some people and causes various criticisms from religious and materialists. […].
Regarding the mediumistic revelations, the descriptions of Andre Luiz are not new, except for what they bring from personal, in the way seen by the author. However, in Heaven and Hell, Kardec presents similar descriptions. In the Revue Spirite, the Encoder published numerous accounts from beyond the grave in the same manner. Sir Oliver Lodge presents similar pictures in Raymond, Denis Bradley in Star Trek, and so on. Now the Publisher O Pensamento of this capital has just released Anthony Borgia's translation of Life in the World Unseen, with the title version of Life in the Invisible Worlds. The translation work was entrusted to J. Escobar Faria, who performed an excellent work.
We have in this curious book a new version of life in the beyond, with details that fully confirm the descriptions of Andre Luiz. The spiritual author is the former Reverend Robert Hugh Benson, the son of a former Archbishop of Canterbury, who, in the manner of Andre Luz, recounts his passage there and describes that side. The second part of the book gives us a kind of geography of the spiritual planes closest to the face of the Earth. Benson, who in earthly life had written about spiritual matters, giving misleading interpretation to some of his psychic experiences, seeks to correct in this book his dogmatic errors of the day. […]. (PIRES, 1989, page 98-99, emphasis added)
Now, what we saw was exactly the opposite of what is implied, since Herculano Pires was, in fact, a defender of the works of Andre Luiz; he fought, indeed, those who in his time wanted to turn it into a kind of "Fourth Revelation," which meant leaving the works of Kardec in the background entirely (or even reneging) Kardec’s works, admittedly the "Third Revelation"; and then, dear reader, friend, "the Apostle of Kardec," as Rizzini would say, spared no criticism of them.
Herculano Pires was not so uncompromising that he considered all the promanised information in Andre Luiz literature to be absolute truths; he had, as it turned out, serious questions, such as the question of the existence of "ovoids," as one of the five texts above shows.
It is good to point out that this cannot be generalized, since Herculano Pires makes it clear that it was only “sometimes” that Andre Luiz used terms that differed from the doctrinal terminology, and not that “everything” he produced disagreed, as seems to be the understanding of some comrades.
Reference:
KARDEC, A. Spiritist Magazine 1866. Macaws, SP: IDE, 1993.
PIRES, H. J. Mediumship: conceptualization of mediumship and general analysis of its current problems. Sao Paulo: Edicel, 1987.
PIRES, J. H. and XAVIER, F. At the time of the testimony. Sao Paulo: Paideia, 1978.
PIRES, J. H. The Spirit and time. Sao Paulo: Edicel, 2003.
PIRES, J. H. Infinity and finite. São Bernardo do Campo, SP: Fraterno Post Office, 1989.
PIRES, J. H. The mystery of good and evil. S. Bernardo do Campo: Fraternal Mail, 1992.
PIRES, J. H. Vampirism. Sao Paulo: Paideia, 1980.
RIZZINI, J. J. Herculano Pires, the apostle of Kardec. Sao Paulo: Paideia, 2001.
XAVIER, F. C. AND PIRES, J. H. Dialogue of the living. Sao Bernardo do Campo, SP: GEEM, 2011. |
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