“Premature ideas often
fail because creatures
are not mature enough to
understand them, nor do
they feel the need for a
change of position for
the time being.” (ALLAN
KARDEC)
Introduction
The existence or not of
spiritual colonies is a
topic that continues to
raise heated discussions
among spiritists. Most
of its opponents are
based on question 1012
of The Book of
Spirits, in which
the Superior Spirits
stated that there are no
circumscribed places.
According to the
Michaelis’ dictionary,
the word circumscribed
means: “That it has
clearly determined
limits; demarcated,
located, and situated”. (1)
The problem is that not
taking the context of
the answer into account,
as is happening,
inevitably leads to a
misinterpretation of the
response. We draw your
attention, dear reader,
to the topic title
“Paradise, Hell,
Purgatory. Paradise”
from chap. II –
Penalties and future
enjoyments, from Book
Four, where the
following question is
inserted“; 1012. Will
there be limited places
in the Universe for the
sufferings and
enjoyments of spirits,
according to their
merits?” (Our
emphasis).
A more attentive scholar
will realize that the
question is about places
for the pains and
enjoyments of the
Spirits, that is, about
the common belief in
traditional Christian
religions about the
existence of "Heaven"
and "Hell" as
circumscribed places for
which we will go after
disincarnating.
Therefore, there is
absolutely nothing
against colonies or
buildings on the
spiritual plane.
We also found some
confreres who claim that
there is nothing about
spiritual colonies in
the works of the
spiritist codification.
Here we have to consider
that we cannot have the
same type of behavior as
the one that reads the
Bible, i.e. it does not
mention it, it does not
exist.
Spiritism is progressive
Allan Kardec (1804-1869)
made it very clear that
Spiritism is progressive
and that no full stop
was placed on it, as we
can see in this speech
recorded in the Spiritist
Magazine 1867,
month of April:
[…] Spiritism has not
yet said its last word,
far from it, not
more about physical
things than about
spiritual things. Many
of the discoveries will
be the result of further
observations. To
some extent, Spiritism
has done nothing but
place the first steps of
a science the importance
of which is unknown. With
the help of what it has
already discovered, it
opens the way to
investigations in a
special order of ideas for
those who will come
after us. It proceeds
only by observations and
deductions. If a fact is
established, it is said
that it must have a
cause, and that this
cause can only be
natural, and then it
looks for it. In the
absence of a categorical
demonstration, it can
give a hypothesis, but,
until confirmation, it
only gives it as a
hypothesis, and not as
an absolute truth. […]. (2) (Emphasis
added)
They closed “the door”
of Spiritism so much
that, if it continues
like this, we will never
see the “many of the
discoveries will be the
result of further
observations” happen, as
well as the possibility
of “opening up to those
who will come after us
the path of
investigations in a
special order” of
ideas”.
It is obvious that
everything must go
through universal
control; we believe that
it is unnecessary to
develop this point, as
it is so self-evident.
The reality that
presents itself
It can also be seen that
some confreres reject
the existence of
spiritual colonies
because they assume it
is a singular
“revelation” of Andre
Luiz.
Let's see what Jose
Herculano Pires
(1914-1979) said in the
work The Infinite
and the finite,
in chapter 32 –
Spiritist messages
abroad confirm those
received in Brazil:
Books by Chico Xavier in
comparison 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
beyond the grave, in
Andre Luiz's books,
psychographics by Chico
Xavier. Even among
spiritists, already
accustomed to dealing
with problems on the
“other side of life”,
these descriptions found
at first, and still find
today, a certain
reluctance. Emmanuel
explained, quite clearly
and happily, in the
preface to The
Messengers, that
Andre Luiz's accounts
should not be taken
literally, but as an
effort to objectify, in
earthly language, the
visions of the spiritual
world. Despite this, the
extreme similarity of
life in space to life on
Earth still disturbs
some people and provokes
a lot of criticism from
religious and
materialists.
The misunderstanding
about this is natural,
mainly due to two
fundamental reasons:
first, the ingrained
habit of considering the
post mortem life as
mysterious, inaccessible
to the understanding of
mortals. Second, the
usual confusion between
body and spirit, source
of materialism, which
prevents many people
from admitting the
existence of life
outside of matter. This
second reason is the
reverse of the first and
both represent extreme
positions in the face of
the problem of survival.
Spiritism shows us that
life beyond death is not
accessible to our
understanding and, at
the same time, undoes
the materialistic
confusion between body
and spirit.
[…]
[…] the existence of
spiritual cities beyond
the grave, of dwellings,
plant and animal, is
not, as they suppose, an
invention of the
spiritists. The Old
Testament and the New
Testament, for example,
are full of descriptions
of this order. Just
remember what Isaiah
says (33:17, 20) about
“the land afar off” and
“the Zion of the
solemnity”, and the
Apocalypse of John about
the heavenly Jerusalem.
With regard to
mediumistic revelations,
Andre Luiz's
descriptions are nothing
new, except for what
they bring personally,
from the author's point
of view. In Heaven
and Hell, Kardec
presents similar
descriptions. In Revue
Spirite, the Encoder
has published numerous
reports from beyond the
grave in the same vein.
Sir Oliver Lodge
presents similar
pictures in Raymond,
Denis Bradley in To
the Stars, and so
on. Now, Publisher
Pensamento, from this
capital, has just
released the translation
of Life in the invisible
worlds, by Anthony
Borgia, with the title
version for Life in
the Invisible Worlds.
The translation work was
entrusted to J. Escobar
Faria, who did an
exquisite job.
We have in this curious
book a new version of
life in the afterlife,
with details that fully
confirm André Luiz's
descriptions.
The spiritual author is
the former Reverend
Robert Hugh Benson, son
of a former Archbishop
of Canterbury, who, in
the manner of Andre
Luiz, recounts his
passage to the other
side and describes that
side. The second part
of the book offers us a
kind of geography of the
spiritual planes closest
to the face of the Earth.
Benson, who in his
earthly life had written
about spiritual matters,
giving a misleading
interpretation to some
of his psychic
experiences, seeks to
correct in this book his
dogmatic errors of the
time. Religious people
in general and
spiritists in
particular, will find in
Life in the Invisible
Worlds a lot of material
for comparison with the
descriptions of sacred
texts and mediumistic
communications obtained
in our country. This
confrontation, for
Spiritists, meets one of
the requirements of the
doctrinal method for the
acceptance of spiritual
information: that of
universal consensus,
established by the
Encoder. (3)
(To be continued in the
next issue of this
magazine.)
References:
KARDEC,
A. Heaven and Hell.
Brasilia: FEB, 2013.
KARDEC,
A. The Book of
Spirits. Brasilia:
FEB, 2013.
KARDEC,
A. Spiritist Magazine 1858.
Macaws (SP): IDE, 2001.
KARDEC,
A. Spiritist Magazine 1859.
Macaws (SP): IDE, 1993.
KARDEC,
A. Spiritist Magazine 1865.
Macaws (SP): IDE, 2000.
KARDEC,
A. Spiritist Magazine 1867.
Macaws (SP): IDE, 1999.
PIRES,
J.H. The Finite and
the Infinite. Sao
Bernardo do Campo (SP):
Correio Fraterno, 1983.
SILVA
NETO SOBRINHO, P. The
Spiritual Colonies and
Codification.
Divinopolis (MG): Ethos
Publisher, 2015.
MICHAELIS, Circumscribed,
available at: Link-1. Accessed
on 16 April 2022
Notes:
1 Michaelis –
see Link-1
2
KARDEC, Spiritist
Magazine 1867, p.
122
3 PIRES, The
Finit and the Infinite,
p. 98-100.
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