The Spirits' Book is one of the five fundamental works of Spiritism, and was written by French occultist Allan Kardec in 1857. It was the first and remains the most important source of doctrine of Spiritism, claiming inheritance from Christianity as a supposed "Third Revelation".

The book is structured as a collection of FAQs, grouped by theme, occasionally interrupted by lengthier articles on specific subjects. A good translation of the Spirits' Book is usually a light reading, presenting the doctrine very clearly, which allows anyone to readily understand it and choose to adopt it or not.

Overview

The basic concepts presented by the book are:

• Monotheism,
• Monism (i.e. there is only one Supreme Being, the source of all good and evil alike),
• Creationism,
• survival of the soul (spirit) after death (disincarnation),
• Reincarnation of the souls (plurality of existences),
• inherent morality of God and His creation,
• existence of live all over the Universe (plurality of worlds),
• progression of the soul towards perfection by experience through several lives,
• migration of spirits from one world to another (transmigration),
• possibility of manifestation of spirits in the living world by means of mediums,
• karma (not actually termed such) as an explanation for apparent injustices,
• prayer and good works are more important to salvation than faith alone (salvation by works).

The book is dividet into four "books", each one split into several chapters. Chapters are not regularly subdivided into sections — though most have titles marking the beginning of particularly sought subjects.

Monoteism in Spiritism

Spiritist doctrine on God is very different from standard trinitarian Christianism, or even Judaism in many points — although spiritists claim that they worship the same Judaeo-Christian God.

First of all, God is understood as God-the-Father. Christ is merely one of his messengers to manking, though probably the most important and perfect ever. Christ is not God, and not necessarily the son of God in literal terms. The subject of His virgin birth, for instance is not even addressed, be it for the fear of arising staunch opposition or simply because this specific circumstance is not deemed as important for the doctrine.

The Holy Ghost, has even its own individual existence plainly denied: according to spiritism, the purported manifestations of the Holy Spirit were actually mediumnic incorporations of discarnated spirits.

God is acknowledged to have most of the traditional attributes of the Christian god:

Moreover, adding to His singularity, There is no devil in spiritism (although Kardec concedes that some people and spirits are so evil that they do deserve to be called so).

Contents

The Spirits Book is divided into four parts or "books":

1. Book One (untitled) deals with the origins of the universe and the attributes of God.
   1. Chapter 1 (God) is intented to clarify the true essence of God.
   2. Chapter 2 (General Elements of the Universe) explains what is the difference between spiritual and material matter and why spirits are not believed by materialists.
   3. Chapter 3 (Vital Principle) is about the differences between animate and inanimate beings, between the living and the dead and the features of intelligence compared to instinct.
2. Book Two (The Spirit-World) describes spiritual life.
   1. Chapter 1 (Spirits) explains what spirits are, where do they come from, how are they like, how do they manifest, the purpose of their existence, and how people perceive them.
   2. Chapter 2 (Incarnation of Spirits) is about why spirits incarnate in material bodies.
   3. Chapter 3 (Return from Corporeal Life to Spirit Life) is about disincarnation (death).
   4. Chapter 4 (Plurality of Existences) is about reincarnation.
   5. Chapter 5 (Considerations on the Plurality of Existences) is an essay by Kardec meant to clarify the doctrine of the previous chapter.
   6. Chapter 6 (Spirit Life) describes what exists in the afterlife, the spiritual world.
   7. Chapter 7 (Return to Corporeal Life) explains how and when spirits come back to life by literally being born again.
   8. Chapter 8 (Emancipation of the Soul) is about situations in which the spirit of a living person may be free to interact with the spirits of the dead, like in near death experiences or during a deep sleep. This chapter does not cover awake mediumship.
   9. Chapter 9 (Intervention of Spirits in the Material World) is about situations in which the spirits of the dead may, ostensibly or not, intentionally or not, have any form of influence on events of the living world.
   10. Chapter 10 (Occupations and Missions of the Spirits) is an essay by Kardec on the different reasons why high spirits interfere with the world.
   11. Chapter 11 (The Three Reigns) is about the differences between inanimate beings (mineral), plants and animals and contains the standard spiritist doctrine on Metempsychosis.
3. Book Three (Moral Laws) contains what Kardec regarded as the kernel of his doctrine,
   
   
   
   the special and fair (in his view) laws of moral that explained and consolated people in moments of anger or grief. Such laws were actually the following:

• • Divine Law
  • The Law of Adoration
  • The Law of Labour
  • The Law of Reproduction (which contains many passages now perceived as slightly racist, like or better — however the tone of the section as a whole is strongly anti-racist, openly stating that the physical bodies of the human race are all derived from one single original creation and that a spirit may incarnate anywhere he chooses, which actually means that we are all the same)
  • The Law of Preservation
  • The Law of Destruction
  • Social Law
  • The Law of Progress
  • The Law of Equality
  • The Law of Liberty
  • The Law of Justice, Love and Charity
  • Moral Perfection

1. Book Four (Hopes and Consolations) is about the most common doubts people have about religion in general and tries to solve the most sensive ones under new light.
   1. Chapter 1 (Earthly Joys and Sorrows) is about the meaning of the experiences we have on Earth, both good and bad.
   2. Chapter 2 (Future Joys and Sorrows) is about the laws governing the future lives we are bound to live after we die.

It is a common misconception that the Spirits Book condones divorce (the subject isn't even mentioned) or that it (at least in the first edition) taught Metempsychosis.

Some Basic Concepts of Spiritism

There are some interesting aspects of the doctrine contained in the Spirits Book that deserve further mention:

• Man is a Spirit with a material body, i.e. our truer selves are not material, but spiritual.
• A living person is made of three entities: the spirit, the body and the spiritual body (the perispirit) that binds both. The perispirit is an original doctrine of Spiritism.
• Spirits pre-exist and will survive matter that was created.
• There are not angels or demons as separete orders in the creation, but only good and evil spirits. Satan is not necessarily evil (though it may have been in the past). According to spiritist doctrine even a beastly person, like Josef Mengele or Andrei Chikatilo may eventually attain perfection.
• All Spirits are created simple and ignorant. They gradually evolve intellectually and morally, so passing from an inferior order to more elevated ones until finally reaching perfection.
• All Spirits preserve their individuality, before, during and after each life (incarnation). However, the amount of memory one can remember depends on its level of spiritual evolution and the plan previously chosen for that given life.
• The different corporeal existences of the Spirit are progressive and not regressive. The pace of their progress, however, depends on the effort made towards betterment. Spirits can stagnate for so long that it seems to be an eternity and it can even appear that they have retrograded.
• Spirits pertain to various orders, according to the degree of perfection they have attained, in three major categories (with fluid limits and unknown number of subcategories): Pure Spirits, who have attained maximum perfection; Good Spirits, whose desire towards goodness predominates and Imperfect Spirits, who are characterized by ignorance and evil impulses. The relationship of Spirits with Man is constant and has always existed. The Good Spirits do their best to lead us towards goodness and uphold us during our trials, helping us to support them with courage and resignation. Whereas the Imperfect Spirits try to incite us towards evil.
• Jesus is the guide and model for mankind. The Doctrine which he taught and exemplified is the most pure expression of God's Laws. However, most of the traditional doctrine on him being the Christ (Messiah) is seen under a different light. Aspects regarded as keystones of faith by most denominations, like trinitarianism and the virgin birth are not seen as important, while his ressurrection is explained in another way. His death also has a different interpretation (instead of a sacrifice to atone for our sins, it is an example of the importance of being coherent and resist temptation.
• The morality of Christ, presented in the Bible, is the only path towards progress for all mankind. Its practice is the only solution for all problems faced by mankind. However, faith in Christ is not required: any religion that preaches similar principles will lead its faithful to salvation. One does not need to be spiritist to be saved (it merely eases the pain by teaching the purpose of our trials on Earth).
• Man has free will, but must face the consequences of his deeds.
• The future life reserves penalties or compensations in accordance to one's behavior in life.

Spiritist Quotes

Spiritists often wear clothes stamped with quotes from the Spirits Book or have stickers on their cars with them written on. The most cherished quotes are these:

• "To be born, to die, to be reborn again and to always progress, that is the Law."

• "Unshakable faith is only that which can face reason in all human epochs."

• "Without charity there is no salvation."

• And the all-time favourite: "Chance does not exist."

O Livro dos Espíritos