As regards the qualities of spirit, Allan Kardec had a strong influence on the elaboration of Spiritism. The human and cultural formation, the common sense and rationality of the Encoder favored his perfect understanding of the conceptions brought to Earth by the Spirit of Truth for the direction of human problems and universal questions.

Regardless of the decisive action of the Superior Spirits proposing a doctrine, Allan Kardec's genius and greatness were fundamental to the success of the relevant work.

Hippolyte Rivail is known to have studied with the famous Swiss educator Henrique Pestalozzi, whose renowned school he left under the command of the applied and responsible student when he needed to be absent travelling. In the words of Andre Moreil, one of the biographers of Allan Kardec, Yverdun's school was a reference of universalism, there was fraternity among the children from various parts of the world who studied there with the master “severe and the same time gentle, just and charitable” .

Pestalozzi's detachment

With the goal of producing a new pedagogy, even before settling in Yverdun, Pestalozzi, in a shred of detachment and idealism, sold everything he owned and bought land in Aargau (northern Switzerland), founding an institute for poor and abandoned children there. He published hugely successful pedagogical novels that made him recover his finances. His name, ideas, and methods have gained prominence.

The upheavals unleashed by the French Revolution caused real chaos in his country and the Swiss government has called for his help in the protection and education of one hundred and fifty children who were victims of misery and neglect. Pestalozzi later devoted the copyright product of all his pedagogical work to the founding of a new school for poor children, thus meeting the humanistic spirit that dominated his thinking.

According to professor and writer Herculano Pires, Pestalozzi “was what one might call a martyr of education. He devoted his long life of eighty years to turning education into a lever, to uproot the world from the abyss and elevate it to intelligence. When we study today his life of full self-denial, of true martyrology, fought and misunderstood, his pedagogical thinking and worldview, we inevitably come to the conclusion that Pestalozzi was not only the teacher, but also the precursor and the one who prepared Kardec”.

Transformation Tool

It was with this master and his examples that Rivail could count on his education as a pedagogue. Like Pestalozzi, Rivail also elected education as a transformative tool for human character. For thirty years he devoted himself to the education of the French children, so that, for the last fifteen years of his life, he boosted the greatest work of his life - the Spiritist Doctrine - the same love and dedication applied in everything he did.

In the introduction of his first pedagogical work, written in 1824, young Rivail sets out the summary of the general principles of Pestalozzian education: “He takes the child out of the hands of nature to accompany it in its development; consider how its ideas develop, studies its needs and faculties; and after numerous observations, he establishes a method which consists essentially of taking advantage of the powers the child has received from nature, to provide it with sound reasoning and to accustom it to put its ideas in order. ”

Rivail, on the edge of his strength

Like Master Pestalozzi, Rivail promoted from 1835 to 1840 free, widely attended courses in chemistry, physics, astronomy and comparative anatomy.

Rivail always worked hard, practically to the limit of his strength. Every day, invariably on his feet from four-thirty in the morning, he extended his duties until late at night. In addition to the accounting of three companies, which supported him, he wrote grammars, arithmetic, books of high pedagogical studies and also translated foreign works and organized courses.

He published books, presented methods, plans and projects to parliamentarians, governments, and universities concerning the Reformation of French teaching. With a vocation for education, he said in the introduction of his first work that he wanted to become useful to youth and to serve the children of his country through quality public education. Then, he would add to this idea one more fundamental concern, that greater emphasis should be placed on moral education, capable of transforming the child into a just citizen and charitable man.

Factory worker and brother

A mature Spirit prepared through centuries, Rivail was called by Jesus to work objectively for the spiritual elevation of humanity. Thus, like Allan Kardec, he studied, researched, experimented, thought, and wrote a great deal, recapturing the millennial knowledge and experiences he brought and putting himself at the service of intelligence and love.

Well known in the French educational environment, his profile grew exponentially, in proportion to the irresistible advance of the new ideas that the Spirits communicated to him. At no time did it change the way he was and lived.

At one point Kardec saw the need to feel closely the pulse of the Spiritist brothers scattered throughout France. He then made several trips. His speeches given on these propaganda travels of Spiritism are famous. In September 1860, visiting Lyon, his hometown, he was welcomed by the workshop chief Dijou and his wife, who were responsible for an existing Spiritist center. Kardec greeted him, holding the calloused hands of the worker whom he called "brother." This was possibly the first meeting of Spiritist leaders in History.

Returning there a year later, he noted the progress of the Doctrine in all social classes, but especially in the working class. He was surprised by the quick and considerable increase in supporters and he commented: "This is no wonder: with this class suffering the most, it turns to the side that offers its greatest consolation."

Kardec thus exposed the strong commitment of Spiritism to the poor and unassisted of the world, which is the same commitment that guided the preaching and examples of Jesus. And after gathering excellent impressions of the devotion and moral transformation of those people, he said: "What we have seen with our own eyes is so characteristic and contains such great teaching, that we believe we should devote to the workers most of our report."

Brave little actions

Far from being what we would call a social activist today, Allan Kardec had, however, always thought of the underprivileged, and showed constant concern for the injustices caused by human moral vices, especially selfishness and pride, causes of miseries of man. His innumerable small actions reveal total coherence and balance between thinking and acting.

Allan Kardec was able, on these trips, to receive enthusiastic displays of welcome and respect from the majority of the simple workers, who identified him as the greatest authority in Spiritism. Although the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies had a box to meet its expenses, Kardec's various trips to dozens of cities were always funded with his own resources.

Well informed and supportive, the social dramas did not escape him. He organized collections for the benefit of the unemployed and the victims of scourges. Knowing of a fire in the city of Limoges, he contributed to the subscription in favor of the victims. While traveling to Bordeaux, Tours and Orleans, he attended sessions devoted especially to treating the sick. He was opposed to the racist attitude of a small New York community that promoted the lynching of a black man accused of indecent assault on a young white woman. Kardec asked the Spirits for instructions and published the case in the Spiritist Magazine of January 1863. He made free distributions of his books to people who could not afford it. He planned to build a few houses in an area of ​​the Segur village he had bought some time ago, where he intended to take shelter and accommodate some underprivileged Spiritists.

Charity under the veil of discretion

There are little known stories about Allan Kardec that tell of his private life and the generous actions he, as a Spiritist, sought to keep under the veil of discretion.

Alexandre Delanne, who lived closely with his master for over twelve years, had the opportunity to attend numerous demonstrations of his sensitive and benevolent heart. He says that, receiving a visit from a friend, Mr. P ..., they went together to Segur village to visit Kardec. During the conversation, Mr P ... told them about the extreme difficulties his fellow countryman was going through. A man of old age, he suffered deprivations of all kinds, but without regret, not even encouraging himself to ask for help. On the contrary, he had learned to resign himself and to trust in Divine Providence, thanks to a Spiritist brochure he had read and reflected on.

After noticing that Kardec's eyes were full of tears, Delanne saw the master take some gold coins and recommend that they take them to the Spiritist brother, along with various instructive works that he would set aside for donation.

There is another case, among several told by Delanne, in which Allan Kardec's intervention was providential. A man with no resources had been violently expelled from his home and thrown into the street with his wife and children. In conversation, Delanne made Kardec aware of the family's miserable situation. In the face of the exhibition, without asking anything, the master gathered enough resources to take the family out of their own misery, and made Delanne the bearer. This charity of Allan Kardec prevented a tragedy, for it was later learned that the group had planned suicide if no immediate help could be received from any party.

Universal love

It is curious to note, and could not be otherwise, how the great figures devoted to the education of the human being are detached, generous and altruistic. It is as if the love that fills their souls made them a solidary commitment to develop love on the universal plane.

On one occasion the Spirit of Truth reminded Allan Kardec: “In order to please God, one must first be humble, modest, and detached, for God demeans the proud and the presumed” (...). Knowing the life and work of this missionary is assured that he understood and strictly followed this instruction.

The story of this Spirit educator was all about the highest values ​​that should guide the life of a good man. Knowing his work is very important to everyone, regardless of the belief one has. Whenever there is an opportunity, in my writings, I tell people to read Allan Kardec's books. Anyone who can accept my suggestion may not remember my name in the future, but will be congratulated on the decision to have sought spiritual knowledge in time so pure and safe.

Sources consulted:

Spiritist Journey in 1862, Allan Kardec, Publisher: Casa Editora O Clarim.

Posthumous Works, Allan Kardec, Lake.

Spiritist Magazine, Allan Kardec, January 1863, EDICEL.

Reformer Magazine, March 1991, FEB.

Life and Work of Allan Kardec, André Moreil, EDICEL.