The Genesis, Miracles, and Prophecies According to Spiritism – Part I

Awen Abred

Spiritism is defined by Allan Kardec, in essence, in What Is Spiritism? and Spiritism in Its Simplest Expression. Throughout these works, he consistently presents it as a science concerned with the nature of the spiritual world, the destiny of spirits, and the relationship between the spiritual and material worlds. Defined in this way, modern Spiritism corresponds not to a traditional religion but to Spiritist Science, without adding to or subtracting from Kardec’s original conception. It is, therefore, one science among many.

This science comprises two complementary parts. The first consists of the experimental foundation described in The Mediums’ Book, which is based on the experimental psychology of mediumistic phenomena. In this context, experiments are conducted through mediumistic instruments, whether psychographic, psychophonic, or other forms of mediumship in their many varieties. From these investigations emerges the second part of the science, also known as the Doctrine of the Higher Spirits, which encompasses the philosophical conclusions derived from those experiments. This constitutes philosophical Spiritism and represents the many applications of Spiritist Science envisioned for the New Era.

Among these applications, the Higher Spirits identify what they regard as the providential purpose of Spiritist Science: the spiritual improvement of humanity. In this sense, Spiritist Science becomes a psychology of moral development. Here, “moral” is understood in light of the original meaning of the Latin religare (“to reconnect”), referring to the natural and primordial religion that bears all the potential attributes of the Divine. This dimension is commonly referred to as Religious Spiritism: that aspect of the Doctrine of the Spirits representing both the highest outcome and the ultimate purpose of scientific inquiry into the spiritual nature of humanity, facilitating the gradual educational process through which human beings draw closer to God.

In pursuing this investigation, Kardec compiled the experimental findings in Heaven and Hell and The Gospel According to Spiritism, which represent the religious applications of Spiritist Science. The experimental method characteristic of the positive sciences is thus placed at the service of constructing the natural religion that, like God Himself, has always existed, exists now, and will always exist within the human soul. The laboratory in which this method was applied is found throughout the volumes of the Spiritist Review.

Many subjects became the focus of Kardec’s scientific investigations through the experimental evocation of Higher Spirits. Within Kardec’s scientific-religious framework, Spiritist Science may investigate any religious system. Among the principal themes explored are divine revelation, divine creation, miracles, and prophetic predictions. Such subjects may be examined within different religious traditions. According to the universal testimony of the Higher Spirits, however, Christianity and, by extension, its roots in Judaism, most faithfully reflects the eternal principles of Spiritist Doctrine. Consequently, Kardec devoted particular attention to these two traditions in his experimental studies.

Applying the experimental method of Spiritist Science, Kardec investigated these themes within Christianity and Judaism. In Genesis: Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism, he presents the results of these investigations: the doctrinal teachings communicated by the collective body of Higher Spirits, together with certain theoretical systems proposed by Kardec himself within Spiritist Science and by contemporary scholars within the material sciences. These systems remained only hypotheses that had not undergone universal experimental verification.

In the section devoted to the experimental study of divine creation, Kardec systematically compiled the scientific knowledge available during his time concerning the major cosmological and natural questions he examined, while also presenting the doctrinal conclusions communicated by the Higher Spirits regarding those same subjects.

To illustrate how Spiritist Science and the material sciences should work together in investigating these themes, this article examines the organization of this section of one of the fundamental works of the Spiritist Codification.

According to the universal teachings of the Higher Spirits, Spiritist Science leads to philosophical consequences that touch upon the question of first causes, a subject explored in the first book of The Spirits’ Book, entitled “Primary Causes.” There Kardec examines scientific and philosophical questions concerning origins, first principles, and the hypotheses surrounding primary causes.

Since, according to the Higher Spirits, the universe is composed of three fundamental elements: God, spirit, and matter, there are likewise three primary causes. Consequently, investigations into the genesis presented in the ancient sacred texts are likewise divided into three major subjects: the origin of the universe and the Earth, the origin of life (both universal and terrestrial), and the origin of humanity. These subjects are investigated from two complementary perspectives that ultimately converge: that of the material world, studied by the material sciences, and that of the spiritual world, investigated by Spiritist Science.

Let us now briefly examine the chapters of Genesis, which may generally be classified according to these fundamental elements of the universe.

In Chapter I, Kardec discusses the concept of revelation and explains how it should be understood in light of Spiritist Science. This opening chapter establishes the foundation for the entire work, with item 13 offering a concise summary of its principal ideas.

Chapter II, entitled “God,” presents a study of the divine nature that goes beyond what had previously been addressed in The Spirits’ Book. Here, the first fundamental element of the universe—God—is examined according to the findings of Spiritist Science.

Chapter III, “Good and Evil,”discusses the principles and hypotheses derived from the doctrine’s experimental foundations concerning the psychological origins of good and evil, together with related questions in the biology of instincts and ethology—the scientific study of instinctive behavior and passions, considered from both material and Spiritist perspectives.

Chapter IV, “The Role of Science in Genesis,” defines the function of the material sciences while identifying the religious tradition that serves as the object of scientific investigation: the Mosaic account of Genesis, which Kardec regarded as the biblical narrative most consistent with the scientific knowledge of his time. Item 3 specifically explains the complementary roles of both Spiritist Science and material science, together with their relationship to religion in the study of origins.

Chapters V and VI introduce what may properly be called General Cosmology, namely, the study of the origin and structure of the material universe. Chapter V presents, in broad outline, the history of astronomical science, together with its principal theories and foundational concepts.

Chapter VI is devoted to General Uranography, or General Cosmology, and presents Camille Flammarion’s psychographic communications concerning fundamental aspects of physical cosmology. Kardec attributed these communications to the spirit of the eminent astronomer Galileo Galilei. The principal themes of uranography are examined simultaneously from the perspectives of both material science and Spiritist Science.

In the next article, we shall examine the remaining sections of Genesis, explaining their structure and content while also discussing the continuing experimental relevance of Kardec’s works within the framework of the Transitional Constitution of Spiritism.