Kardecist spiritism, also known as Kardecism or simply Spiritism (Portuguese and Spanish: Espiritismo; French: Spiritisme), is a reincarnationist and spiritualist doctrine established in France in the mid-19th century by writer and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (known by his pen name Allan Kardec). Kardec considered his doctrine to derive from a Christian perspective. He described a cycle by which a spirit supposedly returns to material existence after the death of the body in which it had dwelled, as well as the evolution it undergoes during this process. Kardecism emerged as a new religious movement in tandem with spiritualism. The notions and practices associated with spiritual communication have been disseminated throughout North America and Europe since the 1850s.
Kardec coined the term spiritism (French: spiritisme) in 1857 and defined it as "the doctrine founded on the existence, manifestations, and teachings of spirits". Kardec claimed that spiritism combines scientific, philosophical, and religious aspects of the tangible universe and what he described as the universe beyond transcendence. After observing table-turning, a kind of seance, he was intrigued that the tables seemed to move despite lacking muscles and that the tables seemed to provide answers without having a brain, the spiritualist claims being "It is not the table that thinks! It is us, the souls of the men who have lived on Earth." Kardec also focused his attention on a variety of other paranormal claims such as "incorporation" and mediumship.
Kardecist doctrine is based on five basic works, known together as the Spiritist Codification, published between 1857 and 1868. The codification consists of The Spirits' Book, The Mediums' Book, The Gospel According to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell, and The Genesis. Additionally, there are the so-called complementary works, such as What is Spiritism?, Spiritist Review, and Posthumous Works. Its followers consider spiritism a doctrine focused on the moral improvement of humanity and believe in the existence of a single God, the possibility of useful communication with spirits through mediums, and reincarnation as a process of spiritual growth and divine justice.
According to the International Spiritist Council, spiritism is present in 36 countries, with over 13 million followers, being most widespread in Brazil, where it has approximately 3.3 million followers, according to the data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and over 30 million sympathizers, according to the Brazilian Spiritist Federation. Spiritists are also known for influencing and promoting a movement of social assistance and philanthropy. The doctrine was influenced by utopian socialism, mesmerism and positivism and had a strong influence on various other religious currents, such as Santería, Umbanda, and the New Age movements.
Definition The term spiritisme was created by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (known as Allan Kardec) to refer to his ideas in The Spirits' Book (1857). "Kardec's terminological choice was shrewd. By inventing a specific name to describe both his doctrine and the practices that went along with it, he inextricably associated the two. Anyone who held séances was a Spiritistor spirite, in Frenchand all Spiritists accepted the metaphysical system Kardec outlined in his writings. Coining the word spiritisme, therefore, allowed Kardec to emphasize the distinctiveness and specificity of his ideas, while simultaneously creating the impression that everyone who contacted spirits shared them. The benefits of this strategy became clear in the early 1860s, when the word spiritisme entered general French usage as the generic term for belief in spirit contacts, a position it still occupies today." However, the use of the term, whose root is common to various Western nations of Latin origin or Anglo-Saxon, quickly led to its incorporation into everyday usage to designate everything related to the alleged communication with spirits. Thus, today the term spiritism refers to various religious and philosophical doctrines that assert the survival of spirits after the death of the body, and primarily to the possibility of communicating with them, either casually or deliberately, through evocations or spontaneously.
The term Kardecism is criticized by some followers of the doctrine who reserve the word spiritism solely for the doctrine as codified by Kardec, affirming that there are no different branches within spiritism, and they refer to believers of various currents as spiritualists. These followers believe that spiritism, as a doctrinal body, is singular, making the use of the term Kardecist spiritism redundant. Thus, those who adhere to the teachings codified by Kardec in the basic works (with varying degrees of tolerance for concepts that are not strictly doctrinal, such as apometry) simply identify themselves as spiritists, without the addition of Kardecist. However, another portion of followers considers the use of the term Kardecism appropriate.
The term "Kardecist spiritism" emerged from the need of some to distinguish spiritism (as originally defined by Kardec) from Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda. The latter, discriminated against and persecuted at various times in Brazilian history, began to identify themselves as spiritists (at one point with the support of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation), in an effort to legitimize and consolidate the religious movement, due to the existing proximity between certain concepts and practices of it and Kardec's spiritism.
There is no consensus among Spiritists as to whether Spiritism is a religion or not, despite the doctrine being classified as a religion in demographic surveys. This is due to the triple aspect of Spiritism, which allows it to be classified as a doctrine that aligns "science-philosophy-religion".Alessandra Viana de Paiva. Espiritismo e cultura letrada: valorização do estudo pela doutrina Kardecista p. 6. (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, 2009).Estudo Aprofundado da Doutrina Espírita - Cristianismo e Espiritismo. 2nd edition. Brasília [DF]: Federação Espírita Brasileira, 2010. pp. 8–9. In the preamble of the book O Que É o Espiritismo? (What is Spiritism?), Kardec states that "Spiritism is, at the same time, a science of observation and a philosophical doctrine. As a practical science, it consists of the relations established between us and the Spirits; as a philosophy, it encompasses all the moral consequences that emanate from these same relations." Some still contest the religious aspect of Spiritism; however, in the book published by its codifier, titled O Espiritismo na sua mais simples expressão (Spiritism in its simplest expression), he clearly asserts: "From a religious point of view, Spiritism is based on the fundamental truths of all religions: God, the soul, immortality, rewards and punishments in the afterlife, but it is independent of any particular cult. Its goal is to prove to those who deny or doubt that the soul exists, that it survives the body, and that it experiences, after death, the consequences of the good and evil deeds committed during corporeal life: the goal of all religions."Portal do Espírito: Objetivo do Espiritismo e seu tríplice aspecto - Celso Martins and Jayme Lobato Soares. Accessed on October 2, 2019. Kardec also clarifies that Spiritism is a religion in the Opening Address of the Annual Commemorative Session of the Day of the Dead (Society of Paris, November 1, 1868).
At the International Spiritist Congress held in Paris in 1925, there was a proposal to remove the religious aspect from Spiritism, but the French Spiritist philosopher Léon Denis opposed it with tenacity, even in his already weak physical condition of health. According to Denis, Spiritism was not the "religion of the future" but rather the "future of religions".Pedro Fagundes Azevedo. Espiritismo é Religião . O Mensageiro. Accessed on March 3, 2015.
On the other hand, the Spiritist Doctrine affirms respect for all religions and doctrines, values all efforts for the practice of good, and claims to work for fraternity and peace among all peoples and all men, although it firmly rejects, it must be reiterated, fundamental dogmas of other monotheistic religions. In the case of Christianity, the fundamental dogmas that stand out are the divinity of Christ, the Holy Trinity, salvation or justification by grace (more than by individual works or efforts), and the existence and importance of the Church as a spiritual entity, not just human.Bezerra de Menezes. Credo Espírita (1890).
Kardec's primary intention as a Spiritist was to provide support to human spirituality at a time when science was advancing rapidly and traditional religions were losing followers. Kardec believed he had discovered a new way of thinking about reality that would reconcile, in a balanced manner, the emerging science and the declining religion. He analyzed accounts of numerous mediumistic occurrences spread throughout Europe and the United States, synthesizing the information he interpreted to codify this type of practice and the teachings transmitted.
History
Early observations
Followers of the Spiritist doctrine believe that mediumistic phenomena is universal and has always existed. Spiritists cite biblical mediumistic examples, such as Moses' prohibition of "consulting the dead" as evidence of the Jewish belief in this possibility; the consultation of Saul with the Witch of Endor, who sees and hears the disembodied spirit of Samuel; and the communication of Jesus with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor in the Transfiguration of Jesus ().Abib, D. Cultura Espírita no Brasil [Spiritist Culture in Brazil] . Brazilian Cultural Studies, North America, 224 07 2013.
During the 19th century, there was increased attention towards manifestations of mediumship in the United States and Europe. These manifestations consisted mainly of strange noises, knocks on furniture, and objects that moved or floated without any apparent cause, as in the case of "table-turning". The supposed case of the Fox sisters in the United States stood out in the late 1840s.Alvarado, C. S.; Machado, F. R.; Zingrone, N. & Zangari, W. (2007). Perspectivas históricas da influência da mediunidade na construção de ideias psicológicas e psiquiátricas. Revista de Psiquiatria Clínica, v. 34, n. 1, p. 42–53.Doyle, Arthur Conan. (1926). A História do Espiritismo. Cassell And Company Ltd. pp. 56–85 Many Spiritists mark March 31, 1848 (the beginning of the mediumistic events at the residence of the Fox sisters in Hydesville, US) as the initial milestone of modern mediumistic manifestations, allegedly more ostensive and frequent than ever before, which led to greater interest in mediumistic phenomena.
Table-turning