"Who has already woken up is obliged to wake up those
who are still sleeping, because time advances fast and
those who remain asleep may miss the time of the last
spacecraft." (BRUNO BERTOCCO)
In
our studies, we often mention the collection of the
Revista Espirita just to have the “pleasure” of seeing
the face of astonishment of the majority. We noticed
that most of the regulars never heard of it, although
Allan Kardec (1804-1869), recommended its reading, even
saying that its content completes the works: The Book of
Spirits and the Book of Mediums (1). When listing the
works for those who want to have preliminary notions of
Spiritism, the Encoder recommends this order:
1st What is Spiritism - […].
2nd The Book of Spirits - […].
3rd The Book of Mediums - […].
4th Spiritist Magazine - Varied collection of
facts, theoretical explanations and isolated excerpts,
which complete what is found in the two previous works,
and which, in a way, represent its application. Its
reading can be done at the same time as that of those
works, however, it will be more profitable and, above
all, more understandable, if it is done after The
Book of Spirits (2)
This should not surprise us, but perhaps we are studying
the works of the Codification superficially and,
therefore, going over important details. We confess to
having been surprised by the recommendation to read What
is Spiritism first, since, as a rule, it is
recommended to start by reading The Book of Spirits.
In the At the time of Testimony, Jose Herculano
Pires (1914-1979), guides us by saying:
[…]
We need to
study Kardec intensively, to learn the teachings of the
basic works, to drop into the golden pages of the “Spiritist
Magazine”,
not only reading, but meditating about them, reinforcing
them, rediscovering all the treasure of experiences,
examples, teachings and morality that Kardec left us. […].
(3) (emphasis added)
Herculano Pires’ vision regarding the need to also study
the Spiritist Magazine is very clear.
On another occasion we said that it is with great
sadness that we see that, in the Spiritist environment,
the Spiritist Magazine is not studied as suggested by
Allan Kardec. In our studies, we have found very
interesting things in it, which, many a times, gave us
proof that we should read it, even if we do not do it in
the order suggested by the Encoder.
Recently, when reading Allan Karkec’s Biography,
we discovered that the biographer Henri Sausse
(1851-1928), also shared this way of thinking:
One thing that has often caused me pain, and which I
have often noted with sadness, during the twenty-five
years in which, as president, I directed the work of the
Fraternal Society, is the indifference of the Spiritists
in reading the early years of the Revue Spirite. During
this period, from 1858 to 1869, Allan Kardec traced the
main lines of the fundamental works of the Spiritist
Doctrine, in which he feels himself gushing with
abundance and ardent faith and the deep conviction that
animated him, faith and conviction that he knew how to
make so communicative. Many believe, however wrongly,
that these writings have aged, that they are no longer
up to date, that, having the idea advanced since then
with giant steps, this reading offers no interest in our
day. Deep and pitiful mistake. No, Allan Kardec's
writings did not age, they did not become obsolete; on
the contrary, they have retained all their vigor, all
their purpose, in their clear brightness and are, more
than ever, current.
How many wise precepts, how many prudent and enlightened
advices, how many examples lived in these first twelve
years of the Revue Spirite and how much, in my
opinion, we have been wrong to neglect this source of
information on all the points that may concern us,
regarding to the Spiritist Doctrine. (4)
(emphasis added)
We transcribe these two paragraphs from Sausse's “Preamble”.
The significant detail, which we cannot fail to mention,
is that it is dated March 31, 1909. Thus, it is proven
that the little value given to this work of the
Codification is not of today.
Returning to Herculano Pires, now with the work On
the Threshold of Tomorrow, we see these
explanations:
[…]
It is also necessary to remember that there is also the Spiritist
Magazine, by Allan Kardec. There are no less than 12
volumes, with about 400 pages each, but it is an
indispensable collection for a good knowledge of the
Spiritist Doctrine. […].
The Spiritist Magazine, by Allan Kardec, already
exists, fortunately, in Brazil, edited in Portuguese in
12 volumes. After Kardec, the magazine continued to be
published. But what interests us, from the doctrinal
point of view, is the collection referring to the time
of the Encoder (1858 to 1869), because it brings not
only his thought, but also the facts he observed, the
research he did during about 12 years, at the Parisian
Society of Spiritist Studies.
These 12 volumes of the magazine include the research
reports, the important communications received by him
and his studies, developing aspects of Spiritism that
he, naturally, could not develop in the Basic Works, which
had the purpose of structuring the Doctrine, but not
entering in minutiae, in details, that would come later
and that are important for your deeper knowledge. (5)
(emphasis added)
We understand that it is an essential collection for the
doctrinal study, we cannot focus only on the works of
the “Kardec’s
Pentateuch”,
we have no idea who invented this designation, perhaps
someone still attached to the theological concepts of
his original religion, as well says Herculano Pires in The
Spirit and Time:
[...] Doctrinal learning requires unity and sequence,
in order to achieve a global vision of the Doctrine. All
of Kardec's works must appear in these works, from
the initial books, through the Codification itself,
to the volumes of the Spiritist Magazine. We
need to convince ourselves of this reality that not
everyone achieves: Spiritism is Kardec. Because
he was the structurer of the Doctrine, permanently
assisted by the Spirit of Truth. All other spiritist
books, whether mediumistic or not, are subsidiary. Studying,
for example, a work by Emmanuel or Andre Luiz without
relating it to the works of Kardec, on the pretext that
these spiritual authors have surpassed the Teacher
(whose works we do not yet know sufficiently) is to
demonstrate a lack of understanding of meaning and
nature of the Doctrine. These and other respectable
authors contribute to our greater understanding of
Kardec. They
cannot replace it. […].
(6) (emphasis added)
Unfortunately, in our environment, we see the study of
other works, without wanting to belittle them, to the
detriment of what Herculano Pires called “Spiritism
is Kardec”.
It is true that no one is forbidding to study other
works, however, what should not be done is to
concentrate on them as if in matters of Spiritism only
they contained something to teach. We can safely say
that the possibility of learning will be much greater
when we look at the Spiritist Magazine, to learn more
about the work of the Encoder.
In the Spiritist Magazine 1865, in
January, Allan Kardec tells us about the serious case of
obsession of a young woman from Marmande, a French
commune, in which he gives an explanation that we only
saw in the Spiritist Magazine, at least as the
way he explained it:
If one were to ask why God allows evil spirits to
satisfy their rage in the innocent, we will say that
there is no undeserved suffering, and the one who today
is innocent and suffering, certainly still has some debt
to pay. These evil spirits serve, in this case, as an
instrument of atonement. Furthermore, their malevolence
is a trial for patience, resignation and charity. (7)
We can, say with absolute certainty, we will learn a lot
from reading the collection of the Spiritist
Magazine. That is the reason why we wrote this small
article to present it to you.
References:
KARDEC, A. The Book of Mediums. Brasilia: FEB,
2013.
KARDEC, A. The Spiritist Magazine 1865. Araras
(SP): IDE, 2000.
PIRES, J. H. At the Time of Testimony. Sao Paulo:
Paideia, 1978.
PIRES, J. H. On the Threshold of Tomorrow. Sao
Paulo: Editora Camille Flammarion, 2001.
PIRES, J. H. The Spirit and Time. Sao
Paulo: Paideia, 2003.
SAUSSE, H. Allan Kardec’s Biography. Sao Paulo:
Companhia Editora Nacional, 2015.
___________________
[1]
KARDEC, The Book of Mediums, p. 53.
[2] KARDEC, The Book of Mediums, p.
40-41.
[3] PIRES, At the Time of Testimony,
p. 19.
[4] SAUSSE, Allan Kardec’s Biography,
p. 12-13.
[5] PIRES, On the Threshold of
Tomorrow, p. 115.
[6] PIRES, The Spirit and Time,
p. 190-191.
[7] KARDEC, Spiritist Magazine 1865,
p. 14. |