Section
Death and beyond
Near-death experiences, Kardec and life after life.
AccountNear-death experiences: what repeats across accounts, and what science still can't explainA tunnel of light, a life review and leaving the body show up in accounts worldwide; medicine measures the phenomenon but still doesn't know what it is.AccountAfter death, humans and animals: the view attributed to Edgar CayceA text attributes to Edgar Cayce the idea that death is a transition to a plane of learning, where animals also have souls.AccountSpiritual resorts, games, and a writers' house: inside one man's vision of heavenSaulo Calderon says he visited, in astral projection, a seaside leisure colony in the spirit world, an idea that echoes Spiritist literature about the colonies.AccountThe woman in blue and the plea for help: José Maurício's accountJosé Maurício describes the woman in blue, being rescued in a dark valley, and life after — personal accounts no one can verify.AccountThe Woman in Blue Who Returns in Three Episodes: A Near-Death Account and Its ReadingsJosé Maurício, of Niterói, links a 1994 pituitary surgery to three experiences guided by a figure in blue; the case illustrates what near-death research describes and leaves open.AccountAllan Kardec's “testament”: what is known and what is narrativeA video claims Kardec handed over secret manuscripts in 1869, to be opened in 2024; nothing proves the papers exist, and the material itself admits to being a dramatization.TraditionAsk and ye shall receive: Kardec on prayer, and why it isn't a wish listFor Kardec, prayer's value lies in the sincerity and morality of the one who prays, and what is asked for should be strength, not favors.Tradition"Freely give": why Kardec condemns charging for mediumshipKardec condemns the trade in prayers, blessings, and communications with spirits, and argues that mediumship should be practiced for free.Tradition"Seek, and ye shall find": for Kardec, asking requires workingKardec reads "seek, and ye shall find" as a law of work: spiritual help exists, but it does not excuse effort or each person's merit.TraditionThe candle and the bushel: Kardec on revealing truth in timeKardec reads the image of the candle as a call to spread spiritual truth with patience, without forcing those not yet willing to listen.Tradition"I came not to send peace, but a sword": Kardec on Jesus's hard sayingsKardec takes on harsh sayings of Jesus, like the one about the sword and the one about hating father and mother, reading them figuratively.TraditionMarriage, love, and divorce: what Kardec says about "God hath joined"Kardec distinguishes marriage as natural law from marriage as civil law, and argues that divorce merely legalizes an existing separation.TraditionHow to recognize a false prophet, according to KardecKardec offers moral and rational criteria for being wary of false prophets, among the living and among spirits said to communicate.TraditionThe parable of the vineyard: justice, reincarnation, and the eleventh hourKardec reads the parable of the vineyard laborers as a lesson on divine justice, and sees Spiritists as the eleventh-hour laborers.TraditionBlind or reasoned faith: Kardec on the promise of moving mountainsKardec reads Jesus's promise about faith as a force that overcomes moral obstacles, and argues for a reasoned faith that can face reason.TraditionThe feast and the wedding garment: what Kardec sees in a parableKardec reads the parable of the wedding guests as a warning against surface faith and as an argument for the idea of multiple lifetimes.Tradition"Be ye perfect": for Kardec, a moral goal, not an absoluteKardec reads the perfection Jesus asks for as a moral ideal within human reach, measured by one's love for others and reached in stages.TraditionGod and Mammon: what Kardec says about wealth, attachment, and moneyFor Kardec, wealth is a trial and a responsibility: what condemns it is attachment, not possession itself, and the owner is only a custodian.Tradition"Outside charity there is no salvation": Kardec's answer to exclusivismKardec proposes charity, not creed or ritual, as the criterion for salvation, against the formula "outside the Church there is no salvation."TraditionHonoring Father and Mother: What the Fifth Commandment Asks, According to KardecFor Allan Kardec, honoring one's parents is a duty of support and gratitude, and the family that counts is one of spiritual affinity, not blood alone.TraditionThe Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter 13: charity that makes no show of itselfKardec argues that good done quietly, without humiliating the recipient, matters more than displayed almsgiving; a 2008 study links spending on others to greater happiness.TraditionThe Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter 12: what it means to love one's enemiesKardec reads the commandment to love one's enemies as forgiveness and giving up revenge, not forced affection, and condemns dueling as pride disguised as honor.TraditionThe Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter 11: loving one's neighbor and the golden ruleKardec reads Jesus's two great commandments as a synthesis of the law; the golden rule he highlights appears in nearly every religious tradition.TraditionThe Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter 10: forgiveness without limit, and the research on itKardec treats mercy as a need of the soul: forgive without limit, do not judge, and reconcile before praying; psychology studies forgiveness as an intervention.TraditionBlessed are the meek and the peaceable: meekness and patience as strengthKardec and messages attributed to Spirits treat meekness as an active virtue and anger as a fruit of pride, in a Spiritist reading of the Sermon on the Mount.TraditionBlessed are the pure in heart: purity as intention, not ritualKardec reads the beatitude of the pure in heart as an ethics of intention: purity is direction and sincere choice, not the absence of error.TraditionBlessed are the poor in spirit: why Kardec sees humility, not ignoranceKardec reads “poor in spirit” as those free of pride, and argues that on the spiritual plane only cultivated virtues count, not rank or fortune.TraditionThe Comforting Christ: the “other Comforter” promised in the Gospel, per KardecFor Kardec, the Comforter Jesus promised is Spiritism, which would give pain meaning: a trial that educates or an atonement that repairs.TraditionBlessed are those who mourn: how Kardec explains suffering and comfortKardec reads “blessed are those who mourn” as a promise that only makes sense with a future life and reincarnation, and splits affliction into two origins.TraditionBorn again: why Kardec sees reincarnation in Jesus's talk with NicodemusFor Kardec, Jesus's words to Nicodemus speak of reincarnation, which he says makes sense of divine justice, life's inequalities and bonds of affection.TraditionMany Mansions: The Ladder of Worlds Kardec Sees in Jesus's WordsKardec reads the “Father's house” as the whole universe and Earth as one rung among many worlds where Spirits evolve by merit.TraditionThe kingdom not of this world: why Kardec ties morality to the afterlifeFor Kardec, Christian morality only holds up with the idea of a future life, which Spiritism claims to turn from hope into rational certainty.TraditionThe Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter 1: the Law of God in three revelationsKardec argues that Jesus completed the Law of Moses and that Spiritism forms a third revelation, grounded in reason; this is doctrine, not historical fact.TraditionKardec, Socrates, and Plato: the morality of Christ separated from dogma in the Spiritist GospelIn the preface to The Gospel According to Spiritism (1864), Allan Kardec separates the morality of Jesus from dogma and draws it close to the philosophy of Socrates and Plato.AccountSix minutes without a heartbeat: Philip Hasheider's near-death experienceA Wisconsin farmer says he lived an NDE during the roughly six minutes his heart stopped; the account illustrates what research knows and doesn't know on the subject.TraditionAlan Watts and death as return: why accepting the end can free us from fearIn talks by Alan Watts gathered in a video, death is dissolution and return to the whole, and accepting impermanence frees us from fear.AccountWhat souls do after death, in a Spiritist view: work, study, and serviceIn a livestream, Daniel, of the channel Despertando Pessoas, describes the daily routine of souls in the spirit world, and the purpose of reincarnating.AccountLight, a silent hall and a dark valley: José Maurício's three experiencesA hospital technician from Niterói says he lived a near-death experience in 1994 and two more afterward, one luminous and one dark.AccountThe rock that asks about love: Peter's near-death experience, in 1974Peter, a 19-year-old Scot, describes conscious stars and a living rock after a motorcycle accident; the case shows what NDEs repeat and what is interpretation.AccountWhat happens after death, according to the medium Laércio FonsecaIn a nearly three-hour video, Laércio Fonseca describes, drawing on mediumship and astral experiences he says he lived, what awaits the spirit after death.Account"End of the Earth project": one medium's claim that mass death would be a departureMedium Laércio Fonseca claims Earth is in the final phase of a civilization project, and humanity will move on to other worlds; it's belief, with no evidence.Account"Dying is changing clothes": what Laércio Fonseca says about the afterlifeThe medium and conscientiology teacher Laércio Fonseca describes death as a transition and tells cases he says he found during his astral projections.AccountA hereafter with no judge: Laércio Fonseca on the fate of consciousness after deathPhysicist Laércio Fonseca describes a hereafter in planes of vibration, from the Umbral to the higher planes, where each soul arrives at what it built.TraditionHow Allan Kardec tested spirit messages and assembled the Spiritist codificationAn educator, Kardec devised tests of reason, agreement among mediums, and morality for spirit messages, and organized Spiritism in five books (1857-1868).AccountLife after death: what research and traditions say, and where doubt remainsAn overview of near-death experiences, past lives, mediumship, and psychedelics, alongside Spiritism, Buddhism, and Indigenous traditions, and what is disputed.