The ten basic principles of Spiritism: a more complete summary of the Doctrine

 

The Spiritist Doctrine consists of a set of interrelated concepts that are interdependent, resulting in a highly efficient considering the coherence between the topics in question. This consistency, of course, occurs according to the Spiritist Doctrine portray the harmony of the universal laws of God, which are didactically organized by the encoder. Allan Kardec emphasized the five principles of Spiritism, namely the existence of God, existence and immortality of the Soul; communicability of spirits; Stocks and Plurality of existences (lives) and plurality of inhabited worlds.

However, for teaching, strictly basedon Kardecist encoding, we suggest the addition of five principles (Reasoned faith; law of cause and effect; spiritual evolution, morals of Jesus and true religiosity) to this synthetic set, so that in a rapid analysis, scholars and lay people could see, even in an introductory way, the whole philosophic build of Spiritism. In fact, many free-thinkers and followers of various spiritual currents that accept the five basic topics without necessarily having any links with the Spiritism itself. If the term Spiritism was founded by Allan Kardec to designate the doctrine of the Spirits to distinguish it from various aspects of Spiritualism, it was on the basis of misrepresentations (purposely or not) that could possibly occur. Indeed, Kardec was not wrong, since its creation until the present day the Spiritism has been, intentionally or not, confused with other current philosophical-religious trends. Thus, teaching the use of 10 basic principles make the Spiritism less prone to errors in doctrinal interpretation, since these principles together are mutually reinforcing and supportive, providing a much clearer notion of the conceptual basis of the encoding.

It is a conceptual pre-requisite key to learn what Spiritism is and what is not, to those who wishes to examine it free of prejudice, any aspects of the Third Revelation, be the scholar in question a spiritist or not. 

The spiritual body can depart with a greater or lesser intensity from the organic body 

Therefore, we suggest the consideration of five additional topics that are presented and discussed below, together with the five most common topics. 

1. Existence of God – If there is no cause without an effect in all respects in which to examine the universe, it is inevitable to conclude that such complexity could not fail to have been caused by a super cause, ie the Creator. Indeed, the effect should be proportional to the Cause and, therefore, the exuberance of the effect; it appears the excellence of the moral and intellectual attributes of the cause. 

2. Existence and immortality of the Soul - Beyond the mediumistic phenomena properly considered, or the countless evidence of communication between the so-called "dead" and "alive", there is a range of events called animated paranormal. Both phenomena strongly suggest the existence, on independence from the physical body and immortality of the soul. The lively events are generated by the soul of the incarnated person, indicating the existence and even some independence from the physical body. These phenomena of "Emancipation of Soul" demonstrate the fact that the spiritual body (perispirit) is able to depart with greater or lesser intensity from the organic vessel. Sleep and dreams, unfolding (also called a "projection of consciousness" or "astral travel"); somnambulism, ecstasy, clairvoyance (also called "second order") and clairvoyance are examples of "Emancipation of the Soul." It is worth noting that the cases of mediumship in the death bed and the "Near-Death Experiences of (NDEs) have provided extraordinary evidence of the existence and immortality of the soul. 

The proposal of a traditional eternal "heaven" and a "hell" is something completely artificial 

3. Communicability of Spirits - The first and general benefit of mediumistic phenomenon is the demonstration of the immortality of the soul through different mechanisms. The mediumship may be presented in varied ways. Paul, the Apostle says that "There is diversity of gifts, but the spirit is the same," denoting that mediumship is inherent to humans, but for every creature, the phenomenon has different features and intensities. As occurred in the past, given the abundance of mediumistic manifestations as recorded in the Holy Book the Bible and the Koran, the phenomena still occur, changing, however, some peculiarities in the light of intellect and moral of the inhabitants of Earth. The mediumship is based at least partially on the properties of the perispirit, or astral body, which allows the occurrence of significant level of "Telepathy" between carnated and discarnated spirits. In fact, this kind of basic mediumship, common to all creatures, is what enables the obsession and the “superior inspiration “through the intuition of spiritual guardians. 

4. Plurality of Existences - Also called Reincarnation, palingenesis or Rebirth, the diversity of life is the physical mechanism by which the Law of Progress is reflected in the work of creation. Indeed, the succession of steps in providing physical and spiritual spheres, respectively, and the trials and atonement(physical life) and pause for assessment, study and preparation for new experiences (spiritual life). A single physical life would be totally unfair, because the spirits clearly born with different abilities, living in different environments and also dying in completely different age. Furthermore, the proposal of a traditional "heaven" and a "hell" after a single eternal physical life is something completely artificial. This mechanism would be cruel, unjust and profoundly inconsistent with the characteristics that the vast majority of religions give to God. Furthermore, this proposition denies one of the most beautiful of the Law of God which is the Spiritual Evolution. Interesting to add that memories of past lives which are so spontaneous, highlight the realities of the various reincarnations. 

Only reasoned Faith provides an effective alliance between Science, Philosophy and Religion 

5. Plurality of inhabited worlds - Jesus said, "There are many addresses in the house of the Father." Indeed, according to the encoding, God does nothing useless, and therefore all its Universal Work must have a role in effective creation. In fact, both the plurality of inhabited worlds as a plurality of lives are deeply related to the Law of Progress. Indeed, as the spirit is immortal and infinitely moving, it needs more experience in different fields of physical organic existence to meet all their evolving requirements. So many reincarnations on different worlds are necessary for the fulfilment of many spiritual steps. 

6. Faith reasoned - This is a key building block in the whole construction of Kardec’s doctrine, since it is not possible to draw up a body of ideas with scientific character actually using illogical arguments, tenets, fanatical attitudes, etc. Only reasoned Faith provides an effective triple alliance between Science, Philosophy and Religion. 

7. Law of Cause and Effect - also called the Law of Action and Reaction, or Law of Karma, the correlation between cause and effect is a pilot for Spiritual Development of God’s children. Indeed, both the justice of God and the Law of Progress through reincarnation find the main tools in this karmic mechanism. Only through the perfect relationship between planting and harvesting is possible to conceive the sovereign divine justice, because "to each is given according to their works", since "You know the good tree by its fruit." 

Jesus is the most perfect being that God has offered to serve as a model and guide 

8. Spiritual evolution - The Law of Progress is one of the most beautiful realities revealed by Spiritism. The Spirit never regresses. It always evolves to happiness and to God. In fact, anything that is experienced by the spirit is lost; because the spiritual memory records all events Presented by enabling the "Consciousness" becomes the true judge by us. This deep record of experiences makes the Spirit never to go backwards, as the spiritual being can not reduce their baggage of knowledge and experience. Rather, as this accumulation of information is ever increasing, at worst the Spirit "park" evolutionarily, when it takes indolence and fall for the bad inclinations. 

9. Morals of Jesus - A Question 625, from "The Book of Spirits," strikingly teach us that "Jesus is the most perfect being that God has offered to serve as a model and guide." So the moral of Jesus is the greatest ethical benchmark that we can elect as behavioural guidelines to secure a search for spirituality. Obviously, this paradigm is not in conflict with other big names of spirituality, such as Buddha and Krishna among others. According to Emmanuel, in "The Path of Light", all the great missionaries of the property are a single phalanx of mentors and were all sent by Jesus himself, Governor of the planet, a synergistic process of evolution of all humanity. This analysis shows once again the complete absurdity to cultivate religious rivalries. The ideal approach would be studying all the great messengers of love and knowledge "examining everything and keeping the good." 

Liturgies, clothing, symbols, images and rituals are expressions that show religious primitivism 

10. True Religiosity - Spiritism in the search for rational truth overcomes prejudices and fixations of our ancient cultural tradition. Therefore, the Spiritist Doctrine not seal these "walking sticks psychological, spiritual blindness of our daughters, who are in the middle and religious myths, dogmas and fears. Thus, liturgies, clothing, uniforms, symbols, images, rituals, religious professional, religious priesthood, among others, are expressions that show religious primitivism. Spiritism, offering a reasoned faith to achieve scientific understanding of the Laws of God, dispense with such events as the "Kingdom of Heaven is within us." Therefore, the true spirituality is gained from the knowledge of the Laws of Life together with the Self, allowing the spiritual maturity necessary to accelerate the evolutionary process that requires study, work, consciousness, love and brotherhood. Indeed the Emmanuel preface to his exceptional work "Viva Source" states "... Spiritism always recognize in the Gospel of the Lord, and REDIV active, to install with Jesus the Cosmic Religion of Universal Love and Divine Wisdom on Earth." 

The ten basic principles of Spiritism only provide an introduction to the minimally satisfactory Spiritism is considered so interconnected and accurate in a study of the fundamental works of Allan Kardec. Anyway, this is a didactic overview of organizing initial ideas about the Spiritist Doctrine, as well as introduce you briefly to the neophyte, curious, materialistic and followers of other religions who are interested in obtaining some preliminary information concerning the Coding.