The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

Allan Kardec

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Dissertations from Beyond the grave:
Sleep


Poor men! How little you know about the most ordinary phenomena that exist in your life! You think highly of yourselves; you think that you have a vast knowledge and remain speechless before these simple questions framed by all children: “What do we do when we are asleep? What is the meaning of dreams? I don’t have the pretension of making you understand what I want to explain, since there are things that your spirit cannot yet submit to, because one can only admit what one can comprehend.

Sleep entirely frees the soul from the body. When we are asleep we are momentarily in the same state that we shall definitely be after death. The spirits that have quickly detached from matter, on the occasion of their death, had intelligent dreams; those, when sleeping, meet again with the society of other beings that are superior to them; that travel, talk to them and are enlightened by them. They even work on tasks that they find finalized when they die. This, once more, must teach us that we should not fear death, as we die every day as once stated by a Saint.

All this was said with respect to the superior spirits. The large majority of men, however, who may remain in that perturbation for long hours, in that uncertainty that you were told about, those individuals go to worlds that are inferior to Earth, attracted by old affections, or to look for pleasures that are even of a lower level than those found here. They will then learn doctrines that are even more vile, ignoble and harmful than those that they profess among you. What establishes the sympathy on Earth is nothing else but the fact that we feel attracted by the heart, as we wake up, to those with whom we have just spent eight or nine hours of pleasure or happiness. What also establishes the irresistible antipathy is that, deep there in the heart, we know that those creatures have a different conscience, with respect to us; hence we know them not having ever setting our eyes on them. It is this that also explains the indifference, since we don’t seek to make friends when we know that we have others that love us and wish us well. In one word, the sleep influences your lives more than you think.

Through sleep, the incarnated spirits are always in contact with the spiritual world, allowing then that the superior spirits, without much repulse, do agree to come to incarnate in your environment. God wanted that during the contact with vices they could reinforce their virtues in the source of goodness, so as not to fail, as they come to instruct others. Sleep is the door that God opened to them to meet their friends from heaven; it is the break after the work, waiting for the great liberation, the final liberation that should reintegrate them back to their real world.
A dream is the memory of what your spirit saw during the sleep. Notice, however, that you do not always dream since you do not always remember some of what you have seen or everything that you have seen. It is not your soul in its full detachment; often it is nothing more than the memory of the perturbation that follows our departure or arrival, added to the memory of what you have done or that worries you during the waking state. Without that, how can we explain those absurd dreams, of the scholars as well as of the simplest person? The evil spirits also use the dream to torment the weak and pusillanimous souls.

As a matter of fact you will soon see the development of a new kind of dreams. It is as old as the one you know but ignored by you. It is the dream of Joan of Arc, of Jacob, of the Jewish prophets and of some Indian foretellers. Such a dream represents the memory of the soul, entirely separated from the body; the memory of that second life that I was telling you about, some time ago.

For the dreams that you retain the memory try to distinguish well between those two kinds, as without it you shall fall into contradictions and cause dismal mistakes to your faith.

OBSERVATION: When required to provide his name, the spirit who dictated the communication answered: “What for? Do you think that it is only the spirits of your great men that come to tell you good things? Then, all of those that you don’t know and that do not have a name in your world are worthless? Know this that many just use a name to satisfy you.”




The Flowers


OBSERVATION: This communication and the following one were obtained by Mr. F..., the same that we talked about in our October issue with respect to the obsessed and subjugated. One can see the difference regarding the nature of his communications now and those from that time. His free- will completely triumphed from the obsession that victimized him, and his bad spirit no longer showed up. These two dissertations were dictated to him by Bernard Pallissy. *

“Flowers were created in the world as symbols of beauty, purity and hope.”

“How come man who watches the unfolding petals every spring and the flowers fading to bear delicious fruits doesn’t think that his life, in the same way, will wither but will eventually yield eternal fruits? What does it matter to you the storms and torrents? These flowers will never perish nor the most delicate work of the Creator. Have courage then you men that fall in the streets; stand up as the lily does after the storm, purer and more radiant. As with the flowers, the winds shake you right and left from all sides; they knock you down and drag you over the mud, but when the sun is up again raise your heads as the noblest and the greatest.”

“So, love the flowers. They are the emblem of your life and do not be ashamed to be compared to them. Have them everywhere, in your gardens, in your houses, in your temples even, as they are pleasant everywhere. They always inspire poetry and elevate the soul of whoever understands them. Wasn’t that in the flowers that God has manifested all of his magnificence? How would you know the sweet colors with which the Creator has brightened nature if it were not for the flowers? Before man had searched the guts of Earth to find the ruby and topaz, he had the flowers before him, and the infinite variety of shades already consoled him from the monotony of Earth’s surface. So love the flowers then: you will be purer and kinder; you will eventually become like children but you will be the beloved children of God, and your soul simple and spotless will be accessible to all His love, to all joy with which He will warm up your hearts.”

“Flowers wish to be treated by enlightened hands. Intelligence is necessary for their prosperity. You have been doing wrong on Earth since long ago by leaving such a care to unskillful hands that mutilated them when trying to embellish them. There is nothing sadder than those round or pointed trees in some of your gardens, pyramids of greenery that look more like a haystack. Let nature flourish on a thousand of different ways: that is the grace. Happy is the one that can appreciate the beauty of a simple branch that swings, spreading the fertilizing dust. Happy is the one who sees the infinity of grace in their brilliant colors, finesse, shades, nuances that escape and seek one another, flee and reunite. Blessed is the one that can understand the beauty of the graded shades! From the dark root that marries Earth to the blending colors of the scarlet tulips and poppies (why such harsh and weird names?). Study all this and notice the leaves that sprout from one another, like endless generations, until their complete blossom under the celestial dome.”

“Doesn’t it seem like the flowers germinate from Earth to launch themselves towards other worlds? Doesn’t it seem like many times they painfully lower their heads for being incapable of rising even further? Don’t we think that, for their beauty, the flowers are closer to God? Thus, imitate them and become greater and more beautiful.”

“Your way of learning botany is defective. It is not enough to know the name of a plant. I shall call you again when you have time to work on a book of that kind. I defer to a later time the lessons I wanted to give you today. They will be most useful when we have the opportunity to apply them. Then we will talk about the kinds of culture, the places that suit them; the arrangement of the buildings for ventilation and sanitary conditions of the dwellings.”

“If you publish this, remove the last paragraphs so that they are not seen as propaganda.”


Woman’s Role


“Woman is more finely chiseled than man, naturally indicating a more delicate soul. That is how in a similar condition, in all worlds, the mother will be prettier than the father, for she is the first to be seen by the child. The child always turns her eyes onto the angelical figure of a young lady. It is for the mother that the child dries the tear, staring at her with those still weak and uncertain eyes. The child thus has the natural intuition of beauty.

A woman knows how to become noticed by the kindness of their thoughts, by the grace of their gestures and words. Everything that comes from her should harmonize with her being, beautifully created by God.

The long hairs, lying on the shoulders, are the actual image of kindness and the easiness with which it bends without breaking, before the trials. They reflect the lights of the suns, like the woman’s soul should reflect the purest light of God. Young ladies, allow your hairs to float. God created them for that. You shall simultaneously have the most natural and ornate appearance.

A woman should dress in a simple way. She left God’s hands sufficiently beautiful to spare the embellishments. White and blue should merge over your shoulders. Allow also your dresses to float.
May your outfits be seen extending behind you like a long runway of gauze, like a cloud that immediately reveals your presence!

Nevertheless, what is the meaning of the ornaments, the dresses, the waving or fluctuating hairs, up or down, if that sweet smile of mothers and lovers do not shine on your lips? If your eyes do not sow goodness, charity, and hope in the tears of happiness that they allow to roll, in the lightning that shines from that brazier of unknown love?

Women! Do not be afraid of delighting men by your beauty, by your grace, by your superiority. However, men need to know that to become worthy of you, they have to be as great as you are beautiful, as wise as you are good, as instructed as you are original and simple. They need to know that they must deserve you; that you are the award of virtue and honor, but not of that honor covered by a helmet and a shield, shining on tournament jousts, holding a foot over an overthrown enemy’s head; no, but God’s honor.

Men! Be useful and when the poor bless your name, women shall be your equal. Then you shall form a wholesome bond: you will be the head and they will be heart; you will be the beneficent thought, they will be the liberal hands. Therefore, unite not only for love, but also for the good deeds that you can do together. These good thoughts and good actions performed by two loving hearts are the links of these gold and diamonds chain called marriage. Then, when the links are in a large enough number, God will call you near Him and you will continue to bond new links together, links that were made of heavy and cold metal on Earth but that will be made of light and fire in heavens.”


Spirits’ Poetry




Note: These verses were spontaneously written through a basket, touched by a young lady and a boy. We thought that many poets would feel honored by having written them. They were sent to us by one of our subscribers.

Awakening of a Spirit

“How beautiful nature and how sweet the air is!
Lord, I say grace praising you on my knees!

May the joyful hymn of my acknowledgement,
like incense, rise to Thy supreme entitlement!

Thus, before the eyes of the sisters grieving
you sent Lazarus out of his coffin;

Distraught Jairus, his daughter, beloved,
on her deathbed by Your voice revived.

Also, mighty God! You reached me the hand of thou reign;
Stand! Thou said, You have not said in vain.
Why am I not, alas, a vile stack of mud?
I would like to praise You with the voice of a cherub;
Your work never seemed so awesome!
To the one that comes from the darkness of the tomb.

The day seems pure, and the light is shining,
the sun is more radiant and life exciting.

The air is then sweeter than milk and honey;
every sound is a word in the concerts of the holy.

The muffled voice of the wind breathes harmony
that grows in space and becomes infinity.

What the spirit conceives, or reaches the eyes,
what we can read in the book of paradise,

In the space of the seas, below the tides,
in all oceans, cliffs, and globes,

All rounds into a sphere, and we feel that in the midst
God is in the center of these converging axises.

And You, whose eyes hover the starry trails,
who are You hiding in the sky, like a King in his sails

What is Your greatness, if this vast universal face
is not but a point to Your eyes, and the submerse space
of the seas is not even a mirror of its magnificence?
What is then Your greatness, your essence?

What such a great palace have You built, Oh King!
The stars cannot separate You from us, sure thing

the sun at Your feet, immeasurable power,

like the onyx attached to the prince’s slipper.

It is what I most admire in You, Oh Majesty!
Much less than greatness, Your generosity

That reveals in everything, a shining light
that hears the impotent, yielding to the prayer’s might.”

JODELLE



_______________________
* See the Spiritist Magazine, Volume 4.

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