In this issue, we continue the study of the book, Practical Instructions on Spiritist Manifestations, work published by Allan Kardec in 1858. This work which we suggest you read, refers to the edition published by “Casa Editora O Clarim”, and is based on Cairbar Schutel’s translation.
Questions for discussion
A. What step must we take, according to Kardec, when psychic faculties develop spontaneously in an individual?
B. How does the Spirits’ transmission of thought occur through writing?
C. Kardec says that there are cases where the communicator is not an outside Spirit, but the very soul of the medium. It's called psychic phenomenon. How then can we know if in a manifestation there is the assistance of an outside Spirit?
Reading Text
102. This state of confusion after-death persists for a longer or shorter time. We saw Spirits that were completely detached after three or four days; others took several months. When death is natural, that is, when it happens through the gradual extinction of the vital forces, the soul is already partially detached before the complete cessation of organic life, and it becomes aware of itself promptly. The same happens with men who, during their lives, developed spiritually rising above material things. (Chapter III, Page 104).
103. Detached of its bodily garments, the soul is now in its normal state of Spirit. Its qualities and defects remain there, and it needs to pass again through the sieve of bodily life to leave there some of its impurities and rise a few more steps. (Chapter III, Pages 104 and 105).
104. The transition state from physical life to the spiritual world varies according to the degree of evolution of people. For the good of man, the awakening is always calm, sweet and placid. For one whose consciousness is full of evils, for the materialized man, who puts all his joys in bodily satisfaction, it is terrible. They suffer greatly, and such suffering can last as long as his wandering life: they suffer until a ray of hope will shine in their eyes. (Chapter III, Page 105).
105. Spirits can communicate with us by different means. The table was used originally to make contact between the Spirits and men, in the phenomenon that became known as the dance of tables or table-turning. (Chapter IV, Page 107).
106. Aside from the experience, there is no diagnosis that can recognize the ability to produce this phenomenon. Physical strength has no influence on it. Fragile and delicate people can get it, often more than strong men. (Chapter IV, Page 108).
107. The simplest of all these means is the sign language. A Spirit can communicate his thoughts by the movement of any object. Putting your fingers over the edge, in the presence of one or more people and evoking the Spirit, if he is present and he thinks it is the right moment to present himself the table rises, or lowers, and moves. Through these movements of going to the right or to the left, it gives an affirmative or negative answer. Tapping its feet, it expresses joy, impatience and even anger. Sometimes it turns upside down or flings towards one of the assistants, as if driven by an invisible hand. This is what we call sematology or sign language. (Chapter IV, Page 110).
108. The mediums of physical influence are those who have a special ability to produce material phenomena. Natural mediums are mainly found in this class, those whose influence is exercised without their knowing. (Chapter V, Pages 122 and 123).
109. The mediumistic faculty is not, by itself, evidence of a pathologic state because it is not incompatible with perfect health. If the one who has it is sick, this is due to another cause. (Chapter V, Page 123).
110. Mediumship may only be inconvenient if the individual, becoming a voluntary medium, uses this faculty in excess, because there will be on his part an excessive emission of vital fluid and, as a consequence, it will weaken his organs. (Chapter V, Page 123).
111. One should carefully avoid all that can excite the imagination. The accidents that can be caused by fear are well known, and we would be less reckless if we knew the cases of insanity and epilepsy that originate in werewolf and hauntings stories. Those that believe that the devil is the author of spiritual manifestations do not understand the responsibility they assume. Such ideas can kill! (Chapter V, Page 124).
112. The Doctrine, explaining us about the true cause of all these phenomena, gave the coup de grace to superstition. Far, therefore, from giving birth to this thought, one should fight it. (Chapter V, Pages 124 and 125).
113. The invisible beings who reveal their presence by sensible effects are usually Spirits of a lower order and that we can influence through our morale. It is this morale that we need to acquire. We must fight them by our will, and this does not prevent us to meet their just and legitimate demands. (Chapter V, Page 126).
114. A Spirit can, however, be inferior, but benevolent, and come with good intentions. We must assure ourselves about this. We recognize it through the nature of the communications. But let us not ask him if he is a good Spirit. It would be like asking a thief if he is honest. (Chapter V, Page 126).
Answers to the proposed questions
A. What step must we take, according to Kardec, when psychic faculties develop spontaneously in an individual?
In such cases, Kardec says you have to let the phenomenon follow its natural flow: nature is wiser than men. Providence, on the other hand, has its intentions, and the humblest of beings can be made an instrument of the highest purposes. The invisible beings, who reveal their presence by sensible effects, are usually Spirits of a lower order and that we can influence by our moral level. This is what one must acquire. Therefore, far from showing ourselves submissive to their whims, we must oppose them and make them obey, which does not mean that we do not accept their legitimate and just demands. (Work study, Chapter V, Pages 125-127).
B. How does the Spirits’ transmission of thought occur through writing?
The Spirit has a semi-material envelope, which we call perispirit. The condensed fluid, so to speak, around the Spirit to form this shell, is the intermediary through which it acts on the bodies. The Spirit can therefore directly express his thoughts by the movement of an object to which the medium's hand is only a point of support; and he can do it even if the object is not in contact with the medium. The transmission of thought also occurs through the Spirit of the medium, or rather his soul. The outside Spirit in this case does not act on the hand to make it write since it does not act on the basket. He does not hold or lead it. He acts on the soul with which he identifies himself. The soul, under this impulse, directs the hand through the fluid that makes up his perispirit. The hand directs the basket and the basket directs the pencil. The role of the soul, in this circumstance, is sometimes entirely passive and then the medium, if he is a medium of incorporation, has no consciousness of what he writes or says. Occasionally, however, passivity is not absolute; so he has a more or less vague consciousness, although the hand is dragged by a mechanical movement, not subject to will. (Ibid, Chapter VI, Page 138).
C. Kardec says that there are cases where the communicator is not an outside Spirit, but the very soul of the medium. It's called psychic phenomenon. How then can we know if in a manifestation there is the assistance of an outside Spirit?
There are cases where the intervention of a foreign Spirit is not unquestionable, but it is enough that, in some, it is manifest, to arrive to the conclusion that another Spirit, not the medium, can communicate. Now this outside intervention cannot be doubtful when, for example, a person who cannot read or write, however, writes as a medium. When a medium speaks or writes in a language he does not know; when, in short, what is more common, it does not have any consciousness of what he writes, and the thoughts expressed are contrary to his own point of view, they are beyond his knowledge or beyond the reach of his intelligence. (Ibid, Chapter VI, Pages 139 and 140).
