Allan Kardec

Allan Kardec — The Gospel According to Spiritism (International Spiritist Council, 2008) [DECLARED]

Allan Kardec — The Spirits' Book (White Crow Books, 2010) [DECLARED]

Espiritismo · Founder

Espiritismo · Transmitter

«Instead, therefore, of the words SPIRITUAL SPIRITUALISM, we employ, to designate this latter belief, the words SPIRITIST, SPIRITISM, which, by their form, indicate their origin and radical meaning, and have thus the advantage of being perfectly intelligible; and we reserve the words spiritualism, spiritualist, for the expression of the meaning attached to them by common acceptation. We say, then, that the fundamental principle of the spiritist theory, or Spiritism, is the relation of the material world with spirits, or the beings of the invisible world; and we designate the adherents of the spiritist theory as spiritists.» — fija el nombre propio de la creencia separándolo del espiritualismo corriente, y enuncia el principio fundamental de la teoría espírita.

«This book is a compilation of their teachings. It has been written by the order and under the dictation of spirits of high degree, for the purpose of establishing the bases of a rational philosophy, free from the influence of prejudices and of preconceived opinions. It contains nothing that is not the expression of their thought; nothing that has not been submitted to their approbation. The method adopted in the arrangement of its contents, the comments upon these, and the form given to certain portions of the work, are all that has been contributed by him to whom the duty of publishing it has been entrusted.» — declara cómo se hizo el libro y qué parte reclama para sí quien lo publica: el método de ordenación, los comentarios y la forma dada a ciertas partes.

«We transcribe the words in which, by writing, through the intermediary of various mediums, the mission of preparing this book was confided to the writer:» — presenta como texto recibido por escritura mediúmnica, y no como decisión propia, la comisión de preparar el libro.

«and we should rejoice to have been chosen for the accomplishment of a work in regard to which we take no credit to ourselves, the principles it contains not being of our own creating, and whatever honor it may obtain being entirely due to the» — cierra la Introducción diciendo que no se atribuye mérito, porque los principios no son de su creación; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 39.

«This new edition may consequently be considered as a new work, although the principles originally laid down have undergone no change, excepting in a very few instances which will be found to constitute complements and explanations rather than modifications.» — acota en el prefacio a la edición revisada el alcance de lo que cambió: obra nueva en la forma, sin cambio en los principios.

«The passage placed between inverted commas after each question is the reply made by the communicating spirits, whose very words are given textually throughout the whole of this book. The remarks and developments occasionally added by the author are printed in smaller type wherever they might otherwise be confounded with the replies of the spirits themselves.» — declara en nota al pie cómo distingue las voces de su propio libro: lo entrecomillado es de los espíritus y lo que él añade va en tipo menor.

«In order to avert such incongruity, we have gathered together in this work the passages that may comprise a universal moral code per se, apart from sectarian distinction» — declara el criterio con que compone el Evangelio según el espiritismo: reunir los pasajes que por sí solos formen un código moral universal.

«In the Gospel citations, we have preserved everything that has been useful for the development of the thought, eliminating only matters that are irrelevant to the matter at hand. Furthermore, we have scrupulously respected the original translation by Sacy, as well as his divisions by verse» — declara qué hizo con el texto evangélico que transcribe y a qué traducción dice atenerse.

«As for the mediums, we have abstained from naming them; for the most part, they have not been acknowledged at their own request, and consequently, it would not be proper to make exceptions» — declara en nota de autor por qué su libro no nombra a los médiums de quienes vienen las comunicaciones.

«Such is the basis upon which we support ourselves when formulating a principle of the Doctrine; it is not because it is in agreement with our own ideas that we present it as true; we in no way set ourselves up as the supreme arbiter of the truth, nor do we say to anyone: “Believe in such a matter because we tell you to.” Our opinion is nothing in our own eyes except a personal one that might be correct or erroneous, for we are no more infallible than anyone else» — declara sobre qué se apoya al formular un principio y con qué reserva: su opinión no es a sus ojos más que personal.

«In our position of having received communications from close to a thousand authentic Spiritist centers scattered over diverse points of the globe, we are also in a position to observe the principles upon which this concordance is established» — declara la base sobre la que dice trabajar: comunicaciones de cerca de mil centros espíritas repartidos por el globo.

«It is not around the opinion of any one individual that others will rally, but around the unanimous voice of the Spirits; it is not one individual – and no more us than anyone else – who will found Spiritist orthodoxy; neither is it one spirit coming to impose itself upon whomever it wishes; it is the universality of the Spirits, communicating throughout the earth at God’s orders; this is the essential character of the Spiritist Doctrine – its power and authority» — declara dónde pone la autoridad de la doctrina y se excluye a sí mismo de ella por su nombre.

«The above-stated principles are not the result of any personal theory, but are the unavoidable consequences of the conditions in which spirits manifest themselves» — niega que los principios que acaba de sentar sean teoría personal suya.

«Kardec, Allen (ps. of Denizard Hyppolyte Léon Rivail), * 3.10.1804 Lyons, + 31.3.1869 Paris» — la cabecera de la entrada del Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, firmada por Christine Bergé, lo asienta como seudónimo de Denizard Hyppolyte Léon Rivail y da las dos fechas; la capa de texto imprime Allen por Allan y el signo de defunción como un más.

«Léon Rivail was born at 76 Rue Sala in Lyons. His father, a jurist in that city, sent him to study, from the age of ten, in Yverdon (Switzerland), in one of the most famous institutions of the era, directed by Rousseau’s disciple Jean Henri Pestalozzi.» — Christine Bergé da el domicilio de nacimiento en Lyon, el oficio de jurista del padre y la escuela de Yverdon dirigida por Pestalozzi, discípulo de Rousseau.

«When he was twenty, he moved to Paris and soon established a private school (Institut Rivail) in Rue de Sévres, based upon Pestalozzi’s pedagogical method.» — Bergé data a los veinte años el traslado a París y la escuela propia, el Institut Rivail de la Rue de Sèvres, montada sobre el método de Pestalozzi.

«Fascinated with science, he was for many years secretary of the Phrenological Society of Paris and took part in the activities of the Society of Magnetism, leading investigations into the phenomena of somnambulism. In 1832 he married Amélie Boudet, a schoolteacher who shared his passion for education.» — Bergé le adjudica años de secretario de la Sociedad Frenológica de París y participación en la Sociedad de Magnetismo con investigaciones sobre el sonambulismo, y data en 1832 el matrimonio con Amélie Boudet.

«Kardec had established a reputation as a sensible educator when, in 1854, he heard about the spiritualist practice of “table-turning”. According to his biographers he remained skeptical at first, but the following year, having attended a few séances, he turned to experimenting himself.» — Bergé cuenta cómo llegó a las mesas giratorias en 1854 y atribuye a sus biógrafos el escepticismo inicial.

«A spirit then revealed to him one of his previous lives: he had been a Druid in Gaul, and his name had been Allan Kardec. Rivail now definitively assumed this identity as his own.» — Bergé dice de dónde sale el nombre: un espíritu le habría revelado una vida anterior de druida en la Galia llamado Allan Kardec, y Rivail asumió esa identidad como propia.

«The “spirit of Truth” now revealed his mission to him: to establish spiritism and propagate the doctrine delivered during the séances.» — Bergé consigna la misión que el espíritu de Verdad le habría revelado: dar asiento al espiritismo y propagar la doctrina.

«This was the starting point of a new religion, called spiritism, and organized by Kardec as a universal school.» — Bergé hace de la publicación de Le livre des esprits el punto de partida de una religión nueva, organizada por él como escuela universal.

«for Kardec saw spiritism as a scientific religion, with a calling to critically study mediumistic “phenomena”.» — Bergé le atribuye la idea de un espiritismo como religión científica con vocación de estudiar críticamente los fenómenos mediúmnicos.

«An anti-clerical social reformer, Kardec wanted to reconcile faith and reason: ‘It is not enough to believe’, he said, ‘one has to understand’.» — Bergé lo llama reformador social anticlerical y le pone en boca la fórmula de que no basta creer, hay que entender.

«Rejecting the inevitability of evil and the idea of degeneration, he fought against child labor.» — Bergé le adjudica el rechazo de la fatalidad del mal y de la idea de degeneración, y la pelea contra el trabajo infantil.

«However, it is first and foremost in Brazil that it has become a full-fledged religion, extremely active and well-represented today in the middle classes.» — Bergé sitúa en Brasil el lugar donde su espiritismo llegó a ser religión de pleno derecho.

«The situation of Spiritualism in France is further complicated by the doctrines of its leading early exponent, Hypolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (> Allan Kardec, 1804-1869). His approach to Spiritualism was doctrinal, and he drew his doctrines from the spirits themselves, through the lips of his magnetized somnambules.» — otra entrada del mismo diccionario lo nombra el principal exponente temprano del espiritualismo francés y califica de doctrinal su enfoque.

«In the mid-nineteenth century a French schoolteacher and author of pedagogical texts, Hippolyte Le´on Rivail, developed a spiritualist doctrine distinct from the American spiritualism born in 1848. For Rivail contact with the spirits of the dead convinced him of the reality of reincarnation, opening up a new philosophical and moral doctrine for life and the afterlife. It was during a seance that spirits informed him that his name in a former life was Allan Kardec, and it was this he adopted when writing his most important works, The Book of the Spi» — Owen Davies cuenta el origen del nombre dentro de su capítulo sobre el kardecismo en el Caribe; la grafía del nombre civil es la que imprime la capa de texto y el tramo se corta donde el troceo parte el título.

«All of this was due to the efforts of Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (1804–1869), a teacher and author of school books who wrote spiritist literature under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec. Among his works, one finds the main text of French reincarnationist doctrine, Le livre des esprits. Kardec adopted the method introduced by Willermoz: he asked the spirits various questions, they answered through the agency of the mediums, and Kardec collected and edited the result in dialogue form.» — Olav Hammer nombra el seudónimo y describe el método que le adjudica, tomado de Willermoz: preguntar a los espíritus, recoger por médium y editar en forma de diálogo.

«Two discursive strategies are central to Kardec’s work. The first is the reliance on revealed truth. Kardec’s book of more than 470 pages does not refer to a single contemporary printed source or spokesperson.» — Hammer nombra la primera de las dos estrategias discursivas que le adjudica, la apelación a la verdad revelada, y objeta que el libro no remite a ninguna fuente impresa contemporánea.

«To strengthen his case, Kardec resorts to a second strategy, scientism. Already, the first mesmerist or somnambulist sessions were conceived of as methods of empirically exploring invisible dimensions of the cosmos. Spiritism uses the same rhetorical move to gain legitimacy.» — y la segunda que le adjudica, el cientificismo heredado de las sesiones mesmeristas.

«Its first important theoretician was H.L. Rivail (alias Allan Kardec, Le Monde des Esprits, 1857) who transformed it into a religion tinged with sentimentalism and rationalism.» — Antoine Faivre lo llama primer teórico importante del espiritualismo y sostiene que lo transformó en religión; da el título como Le Monde des Esprits y el año 1857.

«His real name was Hypolyte Leon Denizard Rivail and his pseudonym originated through spirit communications. He disparaged physical phenomena, giving the few French physical mediums no coverage in his periodical La Revue Spirite, but encouraged automatic writing.» — Alex Owen da el nombre civil en nota y dice que el seudónimo nació de comunicaciones espíritas; le adjudica desdén por los fenómenos físicos y aliento a la escritura automática.

«Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Allan Kardec was doing paranormal research and writing in France as early as 1850. His books included The Spirits’ Book (1861), The Mediums’ Book, and The Gospel as Explained by Spirits (1864). He coined the term Spiritism, which became the European counterpart of Spiritualism.» — Jon Klimo le adjudica la acuñación del término Spiritism y lo data investigando en Francia ya desde 1850; los años entre paréntesis son del propio cuerpo y el tramo se releyó entero en el crudo, con la guarda anticosido apagada.

«a certain vigorous preacher of the new faith, known under the name of Allan Kardec, took up reincarnationist tenets, enforced them (as there is reason to believe) by strong suggestion upon the minds of various automatic writers, and set them forth in dogmatic works» — Frederic Myers lo llama predicador vigoroso de la fe nueva y le adjudica haber impuesto por sugestión fuerte las tesis reencarnacionistas a varios escritores automáticos.

«The most explicit and influential defenders of reincarnation were the French spiritualists in the tradition of Allan Kardec, who combined two things resented by Blavatsky: popular spiritualism (see above) and a pronounced Christian emphasis» — Wouter Hanegraaff pone a los espiritualistas franceses de su tradición como los defensores más explícitos de la reencarnación y explica por ahí el recelo de Blavatsky.

«It is the perisprit of the Kardecists and the spirit-form of the spiritualists.» — Helena Blavatsky nombra a los kardecistas al definir el duplicado astral, y da por suyo el término perisprit.

«The Re-incarnationists of the Allan Kardec School believe in an arbitrary and immediate re-incarnation. With them, the dead father can incarnate in his own unborn daughter, and so on.» — Blavatsky objeta a la escuela de Allan Kardec una reencarnación arbitraria e inmediata, y le niega Devachan, Karma y filosofía que la sostenga.

«but truth compels me to declare that Allan Kardec was not quite immaculate during his lifetime, nor has become a very pure Spirit since.» — la carta que responde a A. O. Hume, que había alegado los libros de Kardec como testimonio de espíritus elevados en las sesiones, le niega inmaculación en vida y pureza como espíritu.

«A French Spiritualist, Allan Kardec, upon instructions from his “Guides,” reintroduced the ancient doctrine of reincarnation publicly into Europe.» — Gerald Gardner lo pone en su cronología bajo el año 1857 y le adjudica, por instrucción de sus guías, la reintroducción pública de la reencarnación en Europa.

«a principle, which later became—as was demonstrated by Mr. Allan Kardec during an “absolutely secret” spiritualistic séance—one of the chief “life principles” among beings arising and existing on all the other planets of our Great Universe.» — Georges Gurdjieff lo nombra en el prólogo de Relatos de Belcebú a propósito de un principio de vida universal que el texto dice salido de una sesión espiritista absolutamente secreta, que es la máxima de ir hasta el final; el tramo se releyó entero en el crudo, con la guarda anticosido apagada.

«It was then that there arose movements such as the spiritualism of Allan Kardec; Theosophy, which drew its inspiration from the Far East; and the Anthroposophism of Rudolf Steiner, which are among the best known.» — Geneviève Dubois lo cuenta, con la teosofía y la antroposofía de Steiner, entre los movimientos que surgen en reacción al positivismo.