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Part 1
Summary: "Mechanisms of Mediumship" is the title of a Spiritist work of mediumistic nature, well known in the Spiritist environment. Using concepts from Physics, Chemistry and Electrical Engineering, this work set out to present an explanation, based on these concepts, of the mechanisms of the mediumistic phenomenon. Considering that the scientific concepts used are not easily understood by the Spiritist companions in general and the growing interest of the Spiritist movement in describing the Spiritist phenomena based only on the Spiritist Doctrine, we present a study on the mechanisms of mediumship according to only the works of Kardec. Basically, the mechanisms of mediumship according to Spiritism stem from the following concepts: i) Spirits modify the UF (Universal Fluid) through thought and will, impregnating it with the qualities and information they desire; ii) the perispirit is formed by the condensation of the UF around the Spirit which is the focus of intelligence, and the qualities of the fluids of the perispirit depend on the degree of evolution of the Spirit; iii) the perispirit serves as a transmission to thought, like the electric wire; iv) the Spirits communicate with the mediums in the same way as with the Spirits themselves, just by the irradiation of their thoughts; v) for a disincarnated Spirit to communicate with that of the incarnate, the medium's fluid, through its perispiritual expansion, combines with the perispirit of the disincarnated Spirit; vi) Spirits find it easier to respond, due to the affinity between our perispirit and that of the medium who serves as an interpreter. The explanation for these items and the due citations in Kardec are presented in the article. This article can be used as a basis for preparing or reviewing courses on Spiritism and mediumship.
Introduction
In 1959, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation published the work Mechanisms of Mediumship, by Andre Luiz - a psychographics by XAVIER & VIEIRA (1990). Emmanuel, mentor of Chico Xavier, and Andre Luiz prefaced the work. While Emmanuel classifies the work above as being a “book that studies”, Andre Luiz states that the work is worth “as a necessary, but transitory, clothing of the Spiritist explanation of mediumship”. We agree with Emmanuel that the work above is for study, and we agree with Andre Luiz on the need to have a Spiritist explanation of mediumship. But the work ends up using as theoretical reference, not all trivial interpretations of various concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Electrical Engineering. I.e., the work uses these concepts of Science as clothing. We are not opposed to trying to develop an understanding of a subject from different angles. However, for the work to achieve the purpose of being a study, it is necessary that the Spiritist movement dominates the content of the Spiritist Doctrine very well in order to be able to even analyze and evaluate it doctrinally.
Although the intention of the spiritual author of Mechanisms of Mediumship, in using modern concepts of Science to develop an understanding for the mechanisms of the mediumistic phenomenon, is noble, the ignorance, on the part of the Spiritists, of the meaning of these scientific concepts hindered the achievement of this purpose. As an unforeseen side effect, other Spiritist and spiritualist companions, although well intentioned, built systems, theories, proposals or descriptions of various spiritualist phenomena, following the example of Andre Luiz, that is, using equally scientific concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. Unfortunately, however, some of these theories have been shown to be inconsistent with the Spiritist Doctrine (DA FONSECA, 2012, 2013a, 2013b).
Attempts to alleviate the difficulty in the scientific conceptualization of Mediumship Mechanisms exist in the Spiritist literature. Clarifications about the scientific concepts and analogies used by Andre Luiz in this work were presented by DA FONSECA (2016b, 2017). In addition to showing that several of the analogies made by Andre Luiz are very good, provided they are properly understood, DA FONSECA (2016b, 2017) also clarifies the validity of some important interpretations such as thinking that thought is an electromagnetic wave. We suggest the interested reader to access the above articles.
But, the question that arises here is another. Even though there are clarifications about the technical / scientific points of the work Mechanisms of Mediumship, many people still do not feel comfortable with scientific concepts that can only be understood well after years of study at a university level. Would it then be possible to revisit Kardec's work and discover based on it alone, what are the mechanisms of mediumship? Is Kardec's work capable of providing an explanation for the mechanisms of mediumship as well?
In this article, we seek to accomplish this. That is, we revisit the genuinely doctrinal concepts, i.e., only those contained in the work of Allan Kardec, in search of the identification of the concepts necessary for the presentation of the mediumship mechanisms according, only and exclusively, to Spiritism1. Currently, it is clear that the Spiritist movement has sought to encourage a greater commitment to doctrinal coherence (MILANI, 2018, CARRARA, 2019). Thus, it is of interest to the reader and the Spiritist researcher to discover how the Spiritist Doctrine would describe the mechanisms of mediumship. This would be important even to be able to evaluate and value Andre Luiz's proposal or that of other authors in terms of coherence with the Spiritist Doctrine. Here, therefore, one will find a formal explanation of the mechanisms of mediumship according to Kardec. If there is interest, this material can be used in the preparation and / or revision of material of courses on Spiritism and / or mediumship according to Kardec.
In the Spiritist literature, we find some works that seek to describe the Spiritist phenomena based on the works of Kardec. Jader SAMPAIO (1999), for example, identifies a common aspect in the mechanisms of the phenomenon of somnambulism and clairvoyance, which is the emancipation of the soul. Rubens P. MEIRA (2013) presents the functions and properties of the perispirit in terms of Kardec's works, discussing the doctrinal validity of some statements present in the Spiritist environment. However, a detailed description of how mediumship occurs, regardless of type, in terms of only the concepts contained in Kardec's works, does not yet exist as far as we could investigate.
In the following sections, we present, first, a review of the fundamental concepts of fluids and perispirit. Then we use these concepts in the construction of a genuinely Spiritist explanation, of the mechanisms of mediumship according to the Spiritist Doctrine.
II. Fluids and perispirit
In this section we will present the definitions of the concepts of fluids and perispirit as presented by Kardec and the Spirits. We will present these concepts in a didactic order, briefly describing the two general elements of creation, their properties and how they are related.
II.1 Universal fluid and spiritual fluids
From questions 21 to 28 of The Book of Spirits (LE) (KARDEC, 1995), Kardec questions the Spirits about what matter and Spirit2 would be. He starts by asking about the subject, which is something we already know, and then asks "What is the Spirit?" (question 23) to which he receives the following answer: "The intelligent principle of the Universe".
Therefore, in question 27 of The Book of Spirits, Kardec asks if spirit and matter would be the general elements of the Universe, to which the Spirits answered “yes, but the universal fluid has to be added to the material element acting as an intermediary between the spirit and the matter itself, which is too coarse for the spirit to act on it”.
In this part of the answer, we identified a distinct concept: the universal fluid. What would be the universal fluid? In chapter XIV of the Genesis (KARDEC, 2010), Kardec presents an important study on fluids. In item 2 of this chapter he presents the definition of universal cosmic fluid or universal fluid (we will abbreviate it by UF from now on):
“(...) the universal cosmic fluid is the primitive elementary matter, and its modifications and transformations constitute the innumerable variety of the bodies of Nature. As a universal elementary principle, it has two distinct states: that of etheric or weightlessness, which can be considered as the normal primitive state, and that of materialization or weighing, which, in a way, is only consecutive to the other. The intermediate point is the transformation of the fluid into tangible matter, but there is still no sudden transition, since we can consider our weightless fluids as an intermediate point between the two states”. (Our emphasis).
The UF is, therefore, the raw material of everything that is material in nature. In Kardec's words above, the transformations of the UF “constitute the innumerable variety of the bodies of Nature”. But this concerns the material things that make up the visible and known Universe. What about so-called spiritual fluids? First, let's understand two concepts present in the quote above: weightability and weightlessness.
Ponderable is a quality of something that can be weighed. In other words, ponderability is a property of material objects that are sensitive to the gravitational pull forces of our planet and, therefore, can be weighed. Do not confuse this with the property of an object's mass. For example, helium gas is considered to be imponderable, but it has mass. According to the Spiritist Doctrine, both “ethereal” or imponderable matter and dense, tangible and ponderable matter are formed by the UF.
At Kardec's time, it was believed that, because they are invisible and impalpable phenomena, heat, magnetism and electricity were formed by imponderable fluids. Today, although Science describes these same phenomena differently, the concept of fluids and their weightlessness have found great coherence with the teachings of the Spirits, so that from a philosophical point of view, fluid is a word present in the Spiritist Doctrine that does not require updating. DA FONSECA (2016a) presented explanations about the actuality of the term “fluids” in Spiritism.
But what, then, are fluids, or spiritual fluids?
To arrive at the answer, we quote Kardec who, right after defining the UF, presented a correspondence between ponderable matter and material phenomena, known and studied by our Science, and imponderable matter (fluids) and spiritual or psychic phenomena. In item 3 of Chapter XIV of The Genesis, Kardec says:
“In the etheric state, the cosmic fluid is not uniform. Without ceasing to be ethereal, it undergoes changes that are also varied in its genre, perhaps more numerous than in the state of tangible matter. These modifications constitute distinct fluids that, although proceeding from the same principle, are endowed with special properties and give rise to the particular phenomena of the invisible world”. (Our emphasis).
Kardec, then, states that some of the modifications of the UF are in such a manner that they are only present in specific phenomena of the invisible world. The UF modified in this way is the origin of the spiritual fluids. I.e. the spiritual fluids are alterations of the UF that are present in the spiritual phenomena. Kardec makes an exception of philosophical nature when he comments the following in item 5 of Chapter XIV of the Genesis:
“The classification of spiritual fluids is not strictly accurate, since they are definitely more or less quintessentially matter. Of spiritual, really, only the soul or intelligent principle. This denomination is adopted only by comparison and, above all, by the affinity that these fluids have with the Spirits. You could say that they are the matter of the spiritual world, which is why they are called spiritual fluids”. (Our emphasis).
This caveat underscores the correspondence between spiritual fluids and the fact that it is with them or through them that “particular phenomena of the invisible world” occur.
It now remains to clarify how Spirits feel, perceive or use fluids. Kardec stated (item 3 of c
Chapter XIV of The Genesis):
“Everything being relative, these fluids have for the Spirits - who are also fluid - an appearance as material as that of tangible objects for the incarnated, being for them what are the substances of the terrestrial world for us. They elaborate them, combine them to produce certain effects, just as men do with their materials, albeit by different processes”. (Our emphasis).
From the transcript above, two important concepts can be highlighted: a) for Spirits, fluids have a material appearance, similar to our substances and objects; and b) it is the Spirits who elaborate or combine them to produce certain effects. The letter b) represents one of the foundations of the mediumship mechanisms as we will see later. In other words, mediumship will depend on some kind of combination of fluids to occur. We will understand this by the end of the article.
We need to understand what the Spiritist Doctrine teaches about how Spirits can "elaborate" or "combine" fluids to produce or carry out some phenomenon. Kardec explains this in item 14 of Chapter XIV of the Genesis:
“Spirits act on spiritual fluids, not manipulating them as men manipulate gases, but with the help of thought and will. Thought and will are for the Spirits what the hand is for man. By thought, they impart this or that direction to spiritual fluids; they crowd them, combine or disperse them; with them they form sets having a specific appearance, shape and color; they change their properties, as a chemist changes that of gases or other substances, combining them according to certain laws. It is the great workshop or laboratory for spiritual life”. (Emphasis is ours).
The understanding of the process now becomes clearer. Having no material physical body, Spirits cannot act on fluids in the same way that incarnates act on matter. Spirits act on fluids through thought and will. Or, in simple terms, thinking and wanting. This is one of the most important principles of Spiritism! Thought and will are attributes that every Spirit has, with and / or through which it is able to modify the UF present around us, generating in them shape, color and, most importantly, qualities associated with the quality of thought. If a thought is good, the fluids around the Spirit will change accordingly and in order to acquire good qualities. If a thought is bad, the fluids around the Spirit will change in order to acquire bad qualities (see item 15 of Chapter XIV of the Genesis). These changes can occur by intention or unconscious thoughts, and they occur even instantly, that is, just think and / or feel, that the UF around the Spirit, incarnated or disincarnated, changes and acquires the qualities of the thought (See item 14 of Chapter XIV of the Genesis).
(Continued in the next edition.)
2 The word "spirit" with a small "e" serves to designate the intelligent element of the Universe. See: The Book of Spirits, questions 23, 23a and 76. |
