In this article, I present my analysis on the subject. After you read it all the way to the end, I want you to sincerely reflect and leave your impressions.
Kardec’s money and posture
Do you really know Kardec’s work? In Brazil, is Spiritism really practiced as Kardec intended? How to deal with money and at the same time be faithful to the principles of the coder? And the big final question: why did spiritism not work in Europe and walks slowly in the rest of the world?
Do you want to do an analysis with me? Do you have the courage to delve a little into the history of spiritism? Let’s go!
history of spiritualism? Let’s go!
As we study the works of Allan Kardec, we notice how well he played his role as codifier and, above all, as a promoter of the cause and spiritist doctrine. This conclusion can be clearly reached after reading the Spiritist Magazine, and the books Spiritist Journey and Posthumous Works, all by Allan Kardec and almost unknown to the spiritist movement and the pseudo-wise and pseudo-spiritualized ones.
The encoder produced a monthly magazine with very well-written texts, clear and accessible language, as well as impeccable quality for its time. In the Spiritist Magazine, he reported his experiences as a disseminator and propagator of the doctrine itself and gave answers to his critics. What many people don’t know is that he didn’t mince words to respond to frivolous and malicious people who affronted him by accusing him of various things, including living with money from the spiritist doctrine.
For many years, the Spiritist Magazine grew, spread and became a means of communication between the encoder and the various spiritist centers that were forming in France and abroad. It was such a success that it even had subscribers in other countries of the world, which denoted Kardec’s ability to elaborate the questions presented well and his competence in the dissemination and defense of spiritist postulates, despite the obstacles he faced in his time to transportation and delivery of the Spiritist Magazine to those who subscribed to it. The repercussion was so great that Kardec himself took the initiative to go out selling copies of the magazine where he was going, disseminating the doctrine, in addition to holding exhibitions, giving lectures and selling spiritist books.
He sold them, and he didn’t give them away. He even came to defend the idea that spiritist books should not be sold cheaper than others. Yes, he read the Spiritist Magazine and Spiritist Journey. While traveling to spread the doctrine, Kardec realized that he could order portraits of himself and sell them to support his work. This is what he did, several times, to raise money for publicity trips and for his own maintenance, including selling the Book of Spirits, although spiritists, in general, do not know this or do not want to know.
When we study Kardec’s book entitled Spiritist Journey, we know the details and results of what Kardec did. If you don’t have this book, get it right away and read its contents, because that’s what we’re going to analyze here, in this article.
The question that arises is the following: if we were to make a mathematical calculation, a logical projection, what would be the most reasonable consequence of a disclosure the way Kardec did?
The answer is logical and unequivocal: the spiritist doctrine would reach worldwide results, that is, it would spread through the countries of the world to reach the objective of the Spirit of Truth, which is to take the word of the Immortals to the four corners of the Earth. As it happened in those first moments in France, it could spread to several other countries of the world, and soon we would see the whole Earth filled with spiritist truths.
But that never happened! At least until now.
But why has this never happened? Faced with such clear ideas, such a wonderful doctrine, and such logical arguments as those used by Kardec, why has spiritism dwindled and is it increasingly difficult to spread?
If it had spread, as the codifier predicted and wanted, the spiritist doctrine would have radically changed the history of humanity. But that didn’t happen, none of that happened. It’s because? Do you know the reality of the history of spiritism?
Why, in the face of such a remarkable advance, of the population’s so spontaneous receptivity to the spiritist message, at least while Kardec was incarnated, did the dissemination suddenly wither the way it did as soon as Kardec disincarnated? Why was there a setback in the scope of the consoling Spiritist message?
My question, whoever it may be, is: do you know the explanation for this setback in the advancement of spiritism in the world?
Could it be that, after contextualizing the history of spiritism, you would be able to understand, to answer why spiritism did not conquer so many followers in Europe and other continents?
The answer is: the “clowning” promoted by many spiritists is not something that comes from today, my people. It’s something old, since the time of Allan Kardec.
The spiritists’ attitude towards the dissemination of the doctrine they claim to embrace and defend was the biggest obstacle that Allan Kardec faced, which he still faces today. Kardec was the first target of evil from several spiritists; he was the first victim, and spiritualism, as a doctrine, the second.
Allan Kardec made spiritist trips across Europe (see the book Viagem Espirita), all funded with his own money, when he sold printed books at his expense. He gave the lectures himself, and, on his travels, the promotion was a huge success.
Everywhere he went, where he traveled, the doctrine grew, advanced and was known for his ardor, for the brilliant way he expounded the spiritist message, and for the conviction with which he disseminated and spoke of the doctrine of the Immortals.
On the first trip, 30 people were watching; when he returned the following year, there were well over 200 people, and this grew substantially each time he traveled to spread the doctrine. The results obtained by Kardec are impressive!
And again more questions: Did the encoder please the Parisian spiritists of his time? With such dynamism, did he please the followers of the doctrine within France?
Do you know what the answer is? Of course not! He greatly displeased the spiritists of his time and, mainly, the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, an institution founded by himself.
The result of Kardec’s work provoked a lot of anger among spiritists in Paris. Several frivolous comments, alleged excessive religiosity and total ignorance of the projects of the spirits made the spiritists of that time defame Kardec, accusing him in every possible way. Slander grew against the coder, and the spiritists themselves spoke and publicized that Kardec was getting rich at the expense of the doctrine, which made money from the sale of books. Even today, this “DNA” of accusation and ignorance of the spirits’ proposal makes it possible for many people to survive, including good people and many followers of the doctrine, with the same attitude as Kardec’s time. In other words, gossip and serious accusations remain, with complex content,
Anyway, nowadays, the situation is the same among many who claim to defend doctrinal purity but continue to behave like the spiritists of Kardec’s time. This behavior started in Paris, as a reaction of spiritists who were bothered by people who were successful in spreading spiritist ideas, but that’s not all. Let’s see next.
Could it be that French and Parisian societies at that time were not keeping an eye on the behavior of spiritists and the connivance of spiritists with the codifier, and with themselves, to see if it would be worth their while to accept that the doctrine of spiritists came to renew the world? Did the French and the rest of Europe not keep an eye out to see if the behavior of the spiritists was a reflection of the message they spread if their attitudes were consistent with the teachings that the coder spread across Europe?
That is, was the practice of spiritism among themselves, those who preached the spiritist theory, consistent with the kindness of the doctrine preached by Kardec? Did the spiritists’ attitudes towards the coder reflect the fraternity, tolerance, humility, understanding, and indulgence so much spoken of in the Gospel preached by the spiritists of the time? Anyway, did the spiritists practice the doctrine they claimed to embrace?
Well, I sincerely believe that, at this point in the reflections, you, the reader, have already had an answer for yourself about why spiritism did not work in Europe. Spiritists were the greatest enemies of the doctrine they thought they were defending. The exacerbated religiosity inherited from the Catholic Jewish system was transferred, along with the reincarnated spirits, into the movement itself.
Faced with the insults, attacks by spiritists on the encoder itself and everything else that was said against him, Kardec wrote the Spiritist Magazine, which was edited by several spiritist publishers in Brazil and whose content, unfortunately, almost no spiritist or defender of purity doctrinal know. So, I present here an exact transcription of the encoder’s words given the situation he faced in the spiritist movement of his time, or in light of the accusations made against him:
In the 1862 volume of the Spiritist Magazine, translated by Dr. Julio Abreu Filho and published by Livraria Allan Kardec Editora (LAKE), from São Paulo, Allan Kardec wrote:
“I don’t have to account for my affairs to anyone.”
However, so as not to think that he had actually made money with his work, Kardec clarified:
“However, to satisfy the curious a little, who should meddle only with what is their business, I will say that, if I had sold my manuscripts, I would only have used the right that every worker has to sell the product of his work. ..”
And you can see that Kardec did not respond with soft words or “pass his hand on the head” of anyone.
Money and the Spiritist Movement
Still in the Spiritist Magazine (1862, p. 179), there is another interesting and judicious passage in which Kardec expresses himself almost venting before the accusations of the spiritists:
“As for the profit that can come to me from the sale of my works, I do not have to account for its amount, nor for the use I make of it.”
And did you know that Allan Kardec never had any embarrassment in asking mediums to participate in the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies? Yes! That’s right. He had expenses, including the rent of the property where the society operated, and he charged the mediums so that they could participate in the sessions, in the studies carried out there. It wasn’t free. So you can have an idea of why spiritism did not succeed at that time: spiritists were the biggest obstacle to the dissemination of spiritist ideas.
Now, leaping in time to the present day, the question is the same as that of Kardec’s time, although the answer has expanded even further:
Why charge? How to do spiritism outreach nowadays without money?
Well, I don’t know about all the beloved “brothers” who work in the dissemination of the spiritist doctrine, but as for us, at the Robson Pinheiro Institute, the Collegiate of Guardians and the Casa dos Espíritos Editora, I will answer according to our current reality.
We have our social works, in which we serve more than 2,000 people weekly and free of charge, at the University of Espírito de Minas Gerais . However, with more than 25 years of uninterrupted activities (since 1992), we discovered that money to maintain these works does not fall from the sky or materialize in mediumistic meetings, as it did not materialize in Kardec’s time.
We maintain a spiritism school, whose face-to-face courses are completely free all year round, with more than 350 students studying, without paying anything for the classes, courses and treatments they undergo. We offer here, on the Guardians’ portal, the free online course of Mediumship in Practice, with more than 7,500 students enrolled, in addition to other courses that you can learn about and in which you can enroll.
So, you have to pay the maintenance bills, water, electricity, telephone, employees – that’s right, employees, not spiritualized and sanctified Spiritist volunteers. The publisher, in order to survive, has to face the same dilemmas as any other company, including inflation, over which we, at Casa dos Espíritos, have no control. We are not the ones who put a price on the paper to print the books; nor do we put a price on the labor charged by the printers; nor are we the ones who stimulate inflation… Well, no one can accuse us of that.
We have 6 employees working at the publishing house directly and others indirectly, in addition to hiring a company that provides services for dissemination – making the book covers, layout – and a professional responsible for grammatical correction – who works for pay for the publishing house. We also pay for transporting the books, as well as all taxes and other duties that are mandatory for us; as every company is subject to them, with Casa dos Espíritos it would not be different, and no company that disseminates the spiritist message is exempt from these expenses.
And what about the internet, for program broadcasts, various courses and other things like that, such as this blog that you read? Do you think it’s free?
Perhaps some have not noticed in the events that we promoted to reduce the problems we had in the transmission of messages, lectures and book launches. We need to make investments to solve the problems, and here are some of the items needed to keep content production up to date:
Purchase of necessary equipment to maintain a good transmission, with quality. Software licensing, that’s right, because we don’t pirate software, we buy usage licenses and pay dearly for it.
Exclusively to maintain the transmissions, record, edit videos and provide adequate support, answering questions, offering state-of-the-art technology, we have 8 professionals, with a monthly payroll amount of approximately 23 thousand reais, the minimum necessary to take to the upload images, courses, studies, the portal and everything else that we make available to the public. They are image and editing professionals, people who do not and cannot dedicate their time for free, as they work almost 12 hours a day – just like us, they need to eat, pay their bills and pay for other courses they take to be able to perform satisfactory work. and with quality.
And then there’s the studio… ah! This is complex. Many times we had to improvise the recordings in the back of my house, but improvisation proved to be complicated when it came to editing the videos and sound, so we rented the studio and, now, we invest in building our own studio, in Joseph Gleber Holistic Clinic, to transmit the programs we are developing and the other courses, free and paid, to anyone who wants it. And look, after we got the architectural project and the engineer’s work for free, even so, the expenses reached the approximate amount of 180 thousand reais, and that without the final studio equipment, just the construction itself. Inflation? None of that! Welcome to planet Earth, to the world of the incarnate…
The purchase of equipment is a factor that deserves to be reported in more detail to you. There is no way to record, edit images and sound without proper lighting, without computers specially prepared for this, with their programs, software and much more, in addition to courses that teach us how to do all this and that provide the professionals involved – professionals, and non-volunteers – knowledge to work with this equipment.
Currently, we acquire equipment such as monitors and computers and pay for servers to support the demand of people accessing everything (Amazon and other servers). What shall I say more?
Well, if anything yields from all this work, we are going to invest in finishing the construction of the Joseph Gleber Holistic Clinic and at Aruanda de Pai João, institutions located, respectively, in the cities of Sabará and Contagem, in Minas Gerais, which provide free consultations in social, spiritual, mediumistic, physical health areas, among other activities, together with Casa de Everilda Batista, respectively, in the cities of Sabará and Contagem, in Minas Gerais.
With all this, after all these investments, which are generally possible through paid courses and events, then, yes, we will be able to keep the face-to-face courses and part of the online courses free of charge, which, as you could see in the paragraphs above, require investments in material and training of our teachers.
In other words, the same courses and assistance that can be offered free of charge are only possible thanks to the paid courses that we offer. Thus, people who cannot pay are given the opportunity to enroll in free face-to-face courses, directly at Casa de Everilda Batista, or in online courses, but knowing the following: what for some is free has its expenses borne by somebody. Having said that, we clarify: “Give for free what you have received for free” does not apply to our case and to any other institution, company or work via the internet or in person. At least for us, “for free” never happened. We have always had to pay the expenses for building and maintaining our social works.
Why charge?
First point: for the maintenance of all that I mentioned earlier. Then, as a consequence, the charging of courses, as well as the gratuity of others, causes the natural selection to occur among the really needy, the gossips, the slanderers and the opinion makers. This is a natural part of the process.
Then, the fact that we charge for the courses, to maintain their dissemination and invest in their quality and maintenance, contributes to the culture of investing in culture, whether spiritual or in general. Without charging, it would be impossible for Robson Pinheiro, and any other promoter of the spiritist message, to keep all the works for free for those who really need it.
Even so, if there is money left, which until now we have not seen happen – on the contrary – we will be able to invest in Spiritist dissemination in other countries. Did you know that, when we travel to other countries, the spiritist centers that invite us never pay for tickets, accommodation or food? We were never able to count on even cost help for the trips. We even pay a high price for excess baggage when carrying books and also the energy remedy Água Viva, which we distribute free of charge in centers in Europe and on other continents.
To give you an idea, on one of the trips we took, we paid more than 2000 dollars for excess weight for having taken spiritist books, which were sold at a discount, and we suffered a serious loss. So, the people who travel with me pay for tickets, accommodation and food out of their own pocket. I knew that? No spiritist center pays these expenses for speakers, even because they are very expensive, and airline investors are neither spiritist nor charitable to the point of exempting us from ticket fees, much less those responsible for accommodation free us from costs.
Well then, friends, think about it a little and do the math with your calculators… preferably before you curse, fight or try to defame any spiritist speaker who fulfills a publicity task. Let us remember Kardec in his time and we will understand why the coder died anguished with the spiritists – and with the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies – who said that he was getting rich with the money from the sale of spiritist books.
Another question arises, and I discovered it through experience in my professional work. When I worked as a holistic therapist, in general, I took one day a week to attend for free to people who couldn’t pay, or who said they couldn’t. None of them, absolutely none, completed the treatment or took it seriously. None at all. All abandoned the treatment, precisely because they did not invest a penny in it.
And that’s when I discovered that we have three audiences:
The first is made up of those who really cannot afford it, but lack the will to improve. In general, it is the most demanding audience of all.
The second group includes those who say they cannot afford treatment, courses, specialization and they charge everyone, the government, people of mediums, that everything is free – they are energy vampires who live like spiritual leeches. They can’t afford courses or treatment, or anything, except beers, cable TV, state-of-the-art television, car maintenance, apartment, a few parties, but investing in themselves, nothing. And that’s what I talk about in my self-defense course.
And finally, opinion makers, free thinkers. These know what they want, invest in self-knowledge and encourage others to form an opinion and self-transform.
For the first two audiences, we have the free activities of our spiritist center – I say free for them, because we pay the expenses. Today, for our house to open, only Casa de Everilda Batista, not counting the other institutions, we have a fixed monthly cost of 9,000.00 reais. This is so that people can receive free passes, mediumistic orientations, magnetism, bioenergy, psychographics of consoling letters, spiritual surgeries – these, yes, dependent on the spirits and, therefore, for free. Even the courses given by UniSpiritus (University of Espírito de Minas Gerais) are absolutely free. Ufa! I’ve said too much… but it’s not over yet.
Well, it’s good to understand that, on the internet, we are not founding a virtual spiritist center. This is not a spiritist center, and the part that we can make available for free needs to be supported, have its expenses paid and maintained by someone, not to mention the work of promoting spiritism inside and outside Brazil. Therefore, I never intended to make this space an online spiritist center, so the “so charitable and sensitive” arguments of the spiritists who inherited the “DNA” directly from 19th century France, from Kardec’s time, do not apply to us.
Our proposal is not to support human ignorance, but to train free thinkers; for that, we need to invest and teach the practice of investing in culture.
Free lecture projects are in progress, as we already have on our website,
and we have in mind the objective of maintaining a network of well-informed people, with studies perfectly accessible to the public, also for free. However, if everything, finally, was free, we would already be bankrupt, because our expenses already this month far exceed my salary as a professional in the field of holistic therapies.
I want to make it clear that the internet is not a spiritist center, and the providers, professionals who work with image, sound, interactive events, transmission, maintenance, computers, editing and studio are neither spiritist nor religious mediums. By the way, thank God, the absurd majority are not spiritists, because, if they were, we would certainly still be transmitting with smoke signals or by fax, at most.
Finally, decoding the psychological profile of those who want everything for free, in general they are people dissatisfied with their lives, with the system, with religion, with mediums, with God, with the universe. In general, but not always, they are people who do nothing ostensive and significant for the formation of free thinkers or for humanity, who have not built a social work or maintain it, who have never come into contact with other cultures or experienced the challenges to maintain and maintain the dissemination of spiritual ideas with own resources.
Anyway, usually, but unfortunately not always, they are energy vampires who want everything for free, but do not hesitate to buy expensive cars, televisions, entertainment, beers, leisure and other things. They are demanding vampires. They always demand, but never give anything to humanity; because it costs! Donating is expensive, and what is free, in general, is very expensive for those who do it.
And then, to conclude, now you can have an idea of why spiritism did not take hold in Europe at the time of Kardec, although in Europe, currently, one sees the work of true missionaries to spread the spiritist thought, traveling and facing difficulties a thousand to support the task. Although I’m not a missionary, I want to launch a challenge here: try, the detractors and slanderers on duty, to sustain a work for more than 25 years, serving at least 2,000 people a week for free; teach weekly face-to-face courses, throughout the year, without charging anything in return; maintain assistance to underprivileged children and marginalized families; publish and disseminate books, maintaining this dissemination, in a country where more taxes are paid every day and where inflation and the final price of the product do not depend on you, but,
Try to do this for at least 25 uninterrupted years and you will have a pale view of what Kardec faced in his day and what we face in ours. After seeing, living and experiencing all of this, paraphrasing Jesus and the apostle Thiago: “Throw the first stone who is without sin” and “Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works”.
Robson Pinheiro
Serving the Guardians of Humanity
