Twelve signs form the
zodiacal cycle, a
milliner tradition that
has gained ground in
Western culture and that
today permeates any
discussion about future
trends and
self-knowledge,
especially through the
practice of constructing
astral maps, occupying
spaces on television and
networks, with great
popularity.
However, Astrology has
been the subject of a
recent controversial
issue. Considering that,
it observes the sky, and
because it had its
origins in Antiquity, it
was said that the sky,
as it was at the time,
is different from what
it is today. In fact,
after many discussions,
astronomers concluded
that the zodiacal cycle
would be composed of 13
signs, with the
emergence of a new one,
which they called Serpentarium
(Ophiucus).
Obviously, this issue of
Astronomy, when it met
with Astrology, was the
object of great
controversy, which is
not the focus of our
discussion. It interests
us in a metaphorical
way. An idea that just
as the sky changes, in
the dynamics of the
Universe, in the eyes of
the human observer, the
world also changes and
things that were thought
of in the past can now
be the object of
adjustments and updates.
Here we come to the
object of analysis of
this article. The twelve
moral laws brought in
the third part of The Book
of Spirits, a
structure brought by
Kardec to deal with
matters relevant to the
life of the spirit, of a
world of 1857, and that
today, after more than
160 years, still guides
our discussions, due to
its prominence in the
basic work of the
Spiritist Doctrine. (1)
Do these twelve laws, as
they are in The Book
of Spirits, meet the
reality of modern
society? Is there any
adjustment, addition?
Would a new “little box”
be necessary,
representing a new law
to contemplate what was
not addressed, inserting
a serpentarium in the
part of the Moral Laws?
This is not about
misrepresenting or
diminishing our basic
work, but rather a
discussion of how to
conduct our effort to
interpret these truths
in light of the current
world, seeing their
relevance, but also gaps
that we need to fill,
through reflection,
anchored on this solid
basis.
In divine or natural
law, boundaries are
drawn between good and
evil, the codification
being a pioneer in
escaping from the
Manichaeism of total
evil, in a tendency that
today becomes a
consensus in the most
elaborate philosophical
debates and in
cinematographic pieces.
Life in the 21st century
becomes more complex,
and this discussion of
fulfilling the divine
law needs to be
deepened, so that we
understand well what it
means to be on the path
of good.
Dealing with dry themes,
the law of worship
dwells on our ways of
dealing with
spirituality, with our
perception of divinity,
very pertinent in a
world of whitewashed
tombs and the
persistence of
contemplative solutions
to real problems. The
prevalence of these
models, after so much
time, is already a
reason for deep
reflection and debate.
In a society of
hyper-connection and
soulless exploitation of
the workforce, the
knowledge brought by the
Labor Law is still
relevant. However, a
deeper doctrinal
discussion is still
needed to deal with the
new forms of
exploitation of
man-by-man in relations
with slavery-like tones,
and which still persist,
allied to the greed that
destroys homes and
health due to the
accumulation of the vile
metal.
Overpopulation,
sexuality and human
relations figure
together in the law of
reproduction. However,
these issues transcend
the vision of the
perpetuation of the
species, and there is
much to be discussed in
these themes, in the
light of the assumptions
of the Spiritist
Doctrine, as a source of
clarification on such
current issues and that
still permeate
scientists' benches and
common sense
conversations.
In the conservation law,
the spirits bring up the
very current theme of
“how much is a life
worth?”, ours and that
of our neighbor, which
dialogues a lot with a
consumer society, in
which life is lost in
exchange for things,
many of them
superfluous, while for
many the essential is
missing. The discussion
of the need has never
been so pressing and the
Spiritist Doctrine has a
lot to contribute to
this discussion.
Society has been taken
over by a grammar of
truculence, in which
advances in human rights
obtained in the post-war
period lose strength.
It needs what is
contained in the law of
destruction of The
Book of Spirits, in
a broad vision of the
defense of life, of a
culture of non-violence
and understanding that
war is a phenomenon to
be banned. Old
discussions of a problem
that is still so
current.
The law of society comes
to fill the void of a
time of nihilism, of
individuality, of gaps
between citizens,
forgetting the
interdependence between
all of us. Social life,
in different spaces, is
a need brought by the
Spiritist Doctrine and
which still figures as
an unlearned lesson,
insulated in our walls
and condominiums,
frightened by the other
and by violence, in a
technological society
that still suffers from
secular problems.
When we read in the
Spiritist pages about
the inevitable march of
progress, we have the
illusion that this will
happen without our help,
feeding the idea of
being dragged towards
regeneration and not
that this is a
construction. Perhaps
this rescue of the Law
of progress is missing,
that it will derive from
us, and not an external,
messianic imposition.
This reflection would
save us from many
mistaken statements that
we see around, in
Spiritist discussions.
A world that is still so
unequal, in multiple
aspects, and that
oscillates between
biased discourses of
meritocracy allied to
contempt for social
scourges. However, it is
blind to pockets of
poverty and everything
that comes from the lack
of necessities and still
struggles in the absence
of real confrontation
the issue of inequality,
which has only increased
since the times of
Kardec, even though we
are proud of the
advances achieved. By
revising this law, could
it rescue us from these
crossroads?
Perhaps freedom is the
most polysemic word of
this 21st century,
fitting both its
traditional meanings and
its antitheses. After
more than 160 years,
slavery resists and
reinvents itself, in
different ways, and the
freezing fatalism that
proposes to face the
fear of uncertainty,
still figures in
speeches far from the
necessary rationality,
also making the Law of
Freedom a foundation for
many current
discussions.
The hardness of justice
finds the candor of love
in the eleventh law,
that of justice, love
and charity, mediating
human relationships with
the Christian feeling
par excellence: love.
Truths still so present
and little learned, in a
life that walks with a
lot of love on the lips
and little in the heart.
A love that sees the
other, their limits,
combined with the idea
of justice, thus being a
sustainable feeling.
Finally, Kardec deals
with “Moral perfection”,
self-knowledge, virtues
and the good man. In a
world in which
hypocrisy, as grammar,
resurfaces in a visceral
way, the Spiritist
knowledge contained in
this moral law presents
itself as an antidote to
pharisaic moralism, in
the construction of a
real man of good, alive,
and necessary for the
world that looms.
As can be seen, the
twelve laws of the third
part still bring the
foundation of relevant
discussions, of problems
that still plague the
man of the 21st century,
who sees the stars, but
does not perceive his
neighbor. Do we need a
serpentarium, a
thirteenth moral law to
build the Kingdom of God
so desired? Maybe
not.... These twelve
topics brought by the
Spirits of codification
already present
themselves as a map to
guide us in this
nebulous world.
There is still much to
discuss, adapt and
combine the Moral Laws
of 1857 with the world
of the 21st century.
The brief analyzes
indicated that in some
of these very little
progress was made, and
in some, we had the
so-called chicken
flight, short and
disappointing. The
Spiritist needs to
rediscover these laws,
in a broad, concatenated
sense, for the
application of these
discussions in the
directions to be adopted
in these conflicting
times. Answers that are
there, just waiting for
our interpretations so
that they can be
instruments of
transformation of the
world.
(1) As
provided in question 648
of The Book of
Spirits, the natural
law is divided into ten
parts. However, as the
tenth part includes
three themes (justice,
love and charity), the
writer considered in
this article, for our
reflection, the
existence of twelve
laws. (Editor's
Note)
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