The Book of Spirits was first published in 1857 in Paris. The author of the Book, Marquis Hippolyte Léon Denisard-Rivaille, is better known as Alan Kardek. He was already over forty when he was seriously carried away by spiritualism. The Book of Spirits is the result of his own research undertaken. By the way, the pseudonym Alan Kardek is not a randomly chosen name.
How The Book of Spirits Was Written
Since its first publication, the Book of Spirits has acquired the status of a “spiritistic bible”; it is considered a classic of spiritism. But do not expect to find in it the rules for communicating with the other world or instructions on how to summon spirits.
The “Book” contains more than 1000 specially prepared “eternal” questions and answers to them. Kardek himself was not a medium. Questions were piled up by invited mediums in automatic writing sessions. For this, by the way, Kardek's contemporaries have repeatedly criticized Kardek, saying that the personality of the mediator, his thoughts and feelings, of course, influences what his pen displays.
According to Alan Kardek, the answers to the questions asked were given by entities calling themselves spirits or geniuses. Some of them once lived on Earth and were people. Spirits make up the spiritual world, just like people make up the bodily world. The spiritual world is primordial, and the bodily world is secondary. He could even disappear altogether, without damaging the spiritual world in the least. According to Kardek, the "Book" was written with the direct participation of high-ranking spirits. He considers himself only a co-author of this work.
Literally everything is touched upon in the "Book" - questions of life and death, afterlife and reincarnation of immortal souls, illness, suffering and retribution for sins, the essence of being and spiritual hierarchy. And it all begins with the question: "What is God."
The material offered in the "Book" is carefully systematized and presented in the form of moral and philosophical doctrine. Most of all, Kardek is interested in the problem of the moral improvement of an individual and society as a whole.
The Marquis Rivaille did not choose his pseudonym by chance. According to him, the spirits reported that in one of his past lives he was a Gallic druid and bore the name Alan Kardek. And the writing of this book is a work destined for him from above.
The structure of the "Book", its advantages and disadvantages
The "Book of Spirits" is divided into 4 parts: "First Causes", "The Spiritual World or the World of Spirits", "Moral Laws", "Hopes and Consolations". In turn, each part is divided into chapters, and chapters into paragraphs. The text is preceded by an introduction. The material is arranged as follows: first the question asked, then the answer of the spirit, then the comments of the author, in those places where he, apparently, considers it necessary to give explanations.
Kardek's comments are always highlighted and followed after the word “note”. Sometimes the author's explanations take up an entire paragraph and do not stand out in any way. However, the reader will always distinguish the answer given by the spirit from the comments, if only because there is no question in front of the text. A conclusion follows at the end of the book.
Kardek's contemporaries have repeatedly criticized Kardek for his sober, emotionless approach to presenting the material. However, what was at first interpreted as a disadvantage later turned out to be an advantage of this work.
Modern authors often write chaotically, without specifying or explaining the material they are setting out, and in questions that are unclear they refer to "isoteric components." Moreover, many of them lack a moral concept. Kardek, in this regard, simply has no equal. In fact, his "Book" is neo-Christianity, freed from two thousand years of accretions, absurdities and inconsistencies, a teaching based on unshakable human values. At the same time, he interprets and rethinks biblical myths very respectfully
The disadvantages of the "Book" can be attributed to the fact that some issues are interpreted in accordance with the then level of development of science. But it could not be otherwise. No matter how gigantic knowledge the entities agreeing to contact may have, in order to be understood, they will begin to talk to a person according to the level of his development.
"The Book of Spirits" has had and continues to exert a strong influence on the minds of people to this day. According to some 21st century readers, after reading it, people received answers to many questions that remained unclear for a long time.
