Section 19: The Nineteenth Century Part: 2

Some scientific experiments happened in this very, very significant period. The changes were impressive, truly gigantic, in the various aspects of human society. Great names in the area of science, of physics, of chemistry, of biology are from this period. In biology, for example, there was something like an explosion, a science that touches very much on the Divinity. There was a good part of the scientists and of society, in general, that was eager to deconstruct the religious thought of the time and everything that was linked to divinity.

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829) was a nobleman (count), French naturalist, one of the first to use the term biology in this period. He developed the theory of evolution before Darwin. Until then, he believed that species were immutable. After various observations, classifications and reflections on organisms and environments, he formulated the thesis of the transmutation of species and developed his theory of evolution, which was presented to the public in 1809. An interesting example of his, but not a scientific biological fact, was the explanation of why giraffes have a long neck: the giraffe stretched its neck to reach the highest leaves and, with this constant movement, the neck lengthened. This characteristic was transmitted to its descendants. In his theory, known as Lamarckism, beings undergo transformations caused by the environment. He was quite questioned, not managing to achieve success with his theory.

Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882), British naturalist, geologist and biologist, is considered one of the greatest personalities in history. He was of the Anglican religion, but ended his days as an agnostic. He established the idea that all living beings descend from a common ancestor and that their hereditary variations favor survival, thus increasing the possibility of reproductive success over the generations. This idea of his of common ancestry is the central part of his theory. His book, The Origin of Species, released in 1859, caused an impact and had significant acceptance in the scientific community. His evolutionary theory was decisive in the scenario of the biological sciences, regarding the reason for the natural diversity of the planet.

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), British naturalist, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. In 1858, after research in the Moluccas Islands, in Indonesia, he ended up arriving at a result, a conclusion very similar to Darwin's. They maintained correspondence; thus, Wallace asked his friend to evaluate his notes on his discovery, without knowing that Darwin, twenty years before, had developed the theory of evolution and begun an extensive manuscript. But he hesitated to publish it. And there were various reasons for this indecision, because he knew that his book would cause a lot of controversy and even religious conflicts.

Upon learning of Wallace's discovery, he wrote to his friend Charles Lyell, saying: "All my originality will be smashed". To prevent this from happening, he was encouraged to finally publish his book. Thus was born The Origin of Species, by Charles Robert Darwin.

Human pride was wounded three times, as Freud said: the Three Wounds of human narcissism. The first time was when Copernicus, in the 16th century, proposed heliocentrism, displacing the Earth from the center of the solar system. The second time was when Charles Darwin brought the theory of the Origin of Species, saying that we are nothing more than a process of evolution from simpler beings. And the third time was when Sigmund Freud said that unconscious processes occur on a larger scale than consciousness supposes.

Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), French chemist, biochemist, university professor and scientist, is recognized for his important discoveries in the causes and prevention of diseases. He had a central role in the development of the first vaccine against rabies, the anti-rabies vaccine. He developed the method of pasteurization (a name that was given in his honor), to prevent beer and wine from deteriorating.

In this period, there were many advances in terms of science, but also in the society of the time, which managed to structure itself, obtain progress and a better life situation, because of everything that was happening. Religiosity was also somewhat affected by the progress of contemporary society, by a movement called positivism, a philosophical proposal of progress.

Auguste Comte (1789–1857), French philosopher and writer, was the one who formulated the doctrine of positivism, based on science. His ideas were fundamental for the development of sociology, a term coined by himself. He worked intensely to try to remedy the disorder, the social malaise caused by the French Revolution. He had great influence on the thought of the following period, influencing the work of thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and George Eliot. His social theories culminated in the creation of his "Religion of Humanity", with worship, calendar, priesthood and rites. His ideas influenced the words Order and Progress, present on the flag of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

Positivism is a rupture with supernatural theology, with the thought of spirituality; however, it is a different rupture because it is within an altruistic proposal. And it was he himself who coined this term. It was no longer necessary for Religion to come to say what is right or wrong, because we had understood that order is the rule that generates progress.

In the first part of this century, we saw the birth of various religious movements; now in this second part, we come across positivism, the advance of science and of materialism. So, it was in this scenario of secularization and of intense religious innovation that we arrived at a very singular moment in history. There then arose a new doctrine...

Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (1804–1869) was a French educator, grammarian, philosopher, translator and teacher, born in Lyon, France. From a very young age, he felt attracted to the study of the sciences and of philosophy. His parents, of Catholic origin, had him study in the city of Yverdun, in Switzerland, at the school of the master Pestalozzi, becoming a diligent student and, later, a disseminator of his teaching method. When Pestalozzi was requested to go create identical institutes in different places, it was Rivail who replaced him in the direction of the school. After concluding his studies, back in his country, he made translations of English and German works on education, since these were languages that he knew and spoke very well, as well as Spanish, Italian and a little Dutch.

He founded in Paris a school identical to that of the master Pestalozzi, having as a partner his uncle, his mother's brother. He was a member of highly proven institutions and academies in France. From the Royal Academy of Arras, he was awarded, by competition, in 1831, presenting his magnificent thesis: "What Is the System of Study Most in Harmony with the Needs of the Time".

On the sixth of February of 1832, he contracted matrimony with Amélie Gabrielle Boudet, also a teacher and with a first-class diploma. Rivail produced an arithmetic manual, which was adopted for decades in French schools. Even having faced financial problems, he never lost heart. He gave free lessons at his residence to whoever requested it and organized free courses in chemistry, physics, astronomy and comparative anatomy, from 1835 to 1840, very well attended. He was always very cautious in everything, sought not to formulate preconceived theories, affirmed that he adopted the method that, since young, he had developed, of experimentation before any final conclusion.

According to his own testimony, published in Posthumous Works, it was in 1854 that he heard for the first time about the phenomenon of the turning tables, through his friend Fortier, a magnetizer of long standing, as he himself was. Fortier spoke with much enthusiasm about this phenomenon that was invading the society of Paris: the tables not only turned, but also spoke. "I will believe when I see it, and when they manage to prove to me that a table has a brain to think, nerves to feel, and that it can become a somnambulist; until that happens, give me permission to see in it nothing but a fable to induce sleep", was his answer to his friend.

This phenomenon was like a fever, a great social attraction, the fashionable European amusement, around 1853. People sat around tables, placed their hands on them and waited for them to move or emit knocks. With time, they perceived that, by asking questions, the tables answered with intelligence, using codes of knocks.

"I found myself, therefore, in the cycle of an unknown fact, contrary, apparently, to the laws of Nature and which my reason did not accept. I had not yet seen or observed anything; experiments carried out in the presence of honorable persons worthy of faith affirmed to me the possibility of a merely material effect; however the idea of a talking table did not yet fit in my brain".

It was the following year that Rivail heard again about the phenomenon of the tables, from persons of education and noble character, like his friend Fortier. He was, then, invited to witness one of these sessions, in order to thus draw his conclusions.

"It was there that, for the first time, I was able to witness the phenomenon of the turning tables, and this under such conditions that no doubt was possible". "I perceived, beneath these apparent futilities and the sort of games that were being made with these phenomena, something serious and like the revelation of a new law, which I promised myself to investigate more deeply".

"The opportunity arose for me and I was able to observe more attentively than I had already been able to do. I made the acquaintance of the Baudin family and Mr. Baudin invited me to attend the weekly sessions held at his residence, and which I attended, from then on, very assiduously".

"I subjected this new science, as I did everything, to the method of experimentation; I observed accurately, compared, drew consequences; I sought, through the effects, to reach the causes by means of deduction, through the logical linking of the facts, not accepting an explanation as valid, except when it could resolve the difficulties of the question. I learned, from the beginning, the gravity of the exploration that I was carrying out..."

In the Spiritist interpretation, phenomena that escape the laws of common Science manifest themselves everywhere and reveal as their cause the action of a free and intelligent will. Reason tells us that an intelligent effect must have as its cause an intelligent force. Rivail concluded, then, that this force can enter into communication with men through material signs. This force, questioned about its nature, declared that it belonged to the world of spiritual beings who had stripped themselves of the bodily envelope of man. Thus, in this manner it was that the Doctrine of the Spirits was revealed.

So, it was after rigorously rational and scientific investigations (from the Spiritist doctrinal point of view) of facts that revealed the communication of men with the Spirits, carried out by Rivail, that there resulted the structuring of the Doctrine of the Spirits, systematized under the scientific, philosophical and religious aspects. It was not created by Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who, from then on, used the name Allan Kardec (so as not to be recognized as the author of the Doctrine and to differentiate it from the many pedagogical works already published by him), but, rather, by the superior Spirits. Allan Kardec was the name that Rivail supposedly had in a previous druist incarnation, revealed to him in a mediumistic session.

According to the Prolegomena contained in the first book of the codification, The Spirits' Book, it was a great number of these superior Spirits who were the effective authors of the doctrine: Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Augustine, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louis, the Spirit of Truth, Socrates, Plato, Fénelon, Franklin, Swedenborg etc.

There are, in all, five books that form the basis of the Doctrine of the Spirits codified by professor Allan Kardec: The Spirits' Book (1857), The Mediums' Book (1861), The Gospel According to Spiritism (1864), Heaven and Hell (1865), The Genesis (1868), in addition to the work What Is Spiritism (1859), a series of pamphlets and 136 issues of the Spiritist Review (from January 1858 to April 1869). After his death, the book Posthumous Works (1890) was published.

There are five basic principles of the Doctrine of the Spirits: the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, reincarnation, the communicability of the Spirits and the plurality of inhabited Worlds.

The fundamental aspects of the Doctrine of the Spirits are:

Science = analyzes mediumistic phenomena in an investigative and rational way.

Philosophy = examines the meaning of life, the origin and the destiny of humanity.

Religion = has a moral basis centered on the teachings and the example of Jesus.

"The Spirits of the Lord, who are the virtues of the heavens, like an immense army that moves as soon as it has received the order from Him, spread themselves over the Earth; similar to resplendent stars, they come to illuminate the road and open the eyes of the blind".

Allan Kardec presented Spiritism as a doctrine that should be studied and analyzed, and not simply accepted by faith. Some prominent scientists and intellectuals decided to investigate the Spiritist phenomenon. There were favorable investigators, skeptics and critics. In an era dominated by positivism and by materialism, it was almost an absurdity that a soul could survive after the death of the body and could interact physically with the material world.

Opinions diverged among scientists of the highest prestige. Some rejected and treated the phenomenon as being a fraud; they believed that the phenomena attributed to the Spirits could be explained by illusions. Others, after investigating the facts, came to the conclusion that they were authentic. Among these scientists were William Crookes, Alfred Russel Wallace, Camille Flammarion and Charles Richet.

However, it was in the United States that these phenomena became public and spread to Europe. Precisely, at the beginning of the year 1848, in a small hamlet, Hydesville, which bordered the town of Arcadia, in the state of New York, in the residence of the Fox family. Today this hamlet no longer exists as an independent village; the area is part of the town of Newark, in Wayne County. There was born, then, Modern Spiritualism, through the Fox sisters, who claimed to establish communications with Spirits.

The Fox family lived in the house located today on Hydesville Road. And it was in this house that Spiritist phenomena began to arise. In 1848, the family began to hear mysterious knocks on the walls of the house. The sisters Margaret (Maggie) and Kate Fox, still very young, after losing their fear, began to dialogue with the knocks, using the method of questions and counting of knocks for the answers.

The girls asked all kinds of questions, obtaining correct answers. They were informed that they were dialoguing with the spirit of a peddler who had been murdered by the former resident of the house, years before, having had his belongings stolen and his body buried in the cellar. The news spread and countless people went to witness the phenomenon. The authorities were informed and, when excavations were made in the cellar, no traces whatsoever of mortal remains were found.

The sisters came to be considered mediums (this definition was incorporated and systematized upon the emergence of the Doctrine of the Spirits, by professor Allan Kardec), became famous and were sought by many people who wanted to know news of their loved ones who had departed to the beyond.

There was much curiosity to know whether there really was life after death. But not only that: people wanted to know about their problems, whether they would be resolved, whether the phenomenon was really true; in short, there was every kind of curiosity. The sisters, then, after becoming famous, began to hold public and private sessions, coming to obtain income from these sessions.

After the Fox family moved residence, for reasons of the girls' safety, the house was left unoccupied. In 1904, some children were playing in the cellar and bumped into a wall that was already crumbling and found bones and a box similar to those used by peddlers.

However, Maggie Fox, in 1888, declared publicly that the knocks were a hoax and that they were produced by the sisters themselves. The following year, she retracted the confession, saying that the manifestations were true.

True case or not, what happened after this was an effervescence of manifestations of the same type across the planet, until they reached France, but they were accepted as an amusement until then. It was only with the meticulous and proven studies by professor Allan Kardec that these phenomena finally had explanations of a moral, spiritual and philosophical order, according to the Spiritist doctrinal position, and not a historical-scientific one.

"To be born, to die, to be reborn still and to progress always, such is the Law".