Heaven and Hell (French: Le Ciel et l'Enfer) is an 1865 book by Allan Kardec, the fourth tome of the fundamental works of Spiritism. Its name was intentionally taken from a previous book by Emanuel Swedenborg, it was also subtitled "Divine Justice According to Spiritism". It is divided into two parts named "The Doctrine" and "The Examples".
The first part explains the different view Spiritism has on the subject, stating that both "Heaven" (happiness in the afterlife) and "Hell" (punishment in the afterlife) are misconcepts, that the state of the spirits after their death is not definitive and that there is always hope, even for the crudest criminal. This is also where Kardec explains in detail why and how "good people" are doomed to suffer and why one should not take one's own life.
The second part is a series of interviews with spirits of deceased people, thus exemplifying the working truth of the doctrine previously detailed. Most of the examples cited are of people now long-forgotten and have become quite useless. The books are most cherished, however, for the profound morality expressed in the first part.
Heaven and Hell is the second most popular book among the Fundamental Works of Spiritism.[citation needed]
The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's stream of consciousness or identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body. The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity.
Allan Kardec is the pen name of the French educator, translator, and author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail. He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of Spiritism.
Kardecist spiritism, also known as Spiritism or Kardecism is a reincarnationist and spiritualist doctrine established in France in the mid-19th century by writer and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail. Kardec considered his doctrine to derive from a Christian perspective. He described a cycle by which a spirit supposedly returns to material existence after the death of the old body in which it dwelled, as well as the evolution it undergoes during this process. Kardecism emerged as a new religious movement in tandem with spiritualism, the notions and practices associated with spiritual communication disseminated throughout North America and Europe since the 1850s.
The Gospel According to Spiritism, by Allan Kardec, is a book published in 1864 that relates the teachings of Jesus to Kardecist Spiritism, the moral and religious philosophy that Kardec had been preaching. It is intended to demonstrate that Spiritism clarifies and extends the most important teachings of Jesus. It is one of the five fundamental works of Kardecist Spiritism.
Heaven and Hell is the common English title of a book written by Emanuel Swedenborg in Latin, published in 1758. The full title is Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen, or, in Latin: De Caelo et Eius Mirabilibus et de inferno, ex Auditis et Visis. It gives a detailed description of the afterlife; how people live after the death of the physical body. The book owes its popular appeal to that subject matter.
The Spirits' Book is part of the Spiritist Codification, and is regarded as one of the five fundamental works on Spiritism. It was published by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, under the pen name of Allan Kardec on April 18, 1857. It was the first and remains the most important Spiritist book, because it addresses in first hand all questions developed subsequently by Allan Kardec.
The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook, is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philosophy Kardec had been publishing — being the tome in which the experimental and investigative features of the doctrine were presented, explained and taught.
The Genesis, Miracles and Premonition According to Spiritism was the last book published (1868) by Allan Kardec, just before his death. It tries to reconcile science and religion, and develops a series of important scientific and philosophical topics, relating them to Spiritism.
The New Church can refer to any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed under the influence of the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). The Swedenborgian tradition is considered to be a part of Restorationist Christianity.
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the Indian religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.
In Spiritism, perispirit or perisprit is the subtle body that is used by the spirit to connect with the perceptions created by the brain. The term is found among the extensive terminology originally devised by Allan Kardec in his books about Spiritism. Its first use was in a commentary to the answer given by the spirits to the 93rd question of The Spirits Book:
Obsession, also known as spirit obsession, is a technical term within the Spiritist belief and practice defined by the author Allan Kardec as the interference of a subjugating spirit with a weaker spirit. Although the term most commonly refers to the negative influence of the spirit of an evil deceased person on the mind or spirit of a living person, obsession can occur in either direction.
What Is Spiritism? is a brief introduction to Spiritism written by Allan Kardec in 1859, which is about a quarter of the length of The Spirits Book. Modern editions are augmented by a brief biography of the author, written by Henri Sausse, in 1896 which is mostly focused on his role in the History of Spiritism.
A Spiritist centre, also called Spiritist society or Spiritist house, is the basic unit of organisation of Spiritism, which is a distinct form of Spiritualism.
Espiritismo is a term used in Latin America and the Caribbean to refer to the popular belief that evolved and less evolved spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life.
Léon Denis was a notable French spiritist philosopher, and, with Gabriel Delanne and Camille Flammarion, one of the principal exponents of spiritism after the death of Allan Kardec. Denis lectured throughout Europe at international conferences of spiritism and spiritualism, promoting the idea of survival of the soul after death and the implications of this for human relations. He is known as the apostle of French spiritism.
In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. In some Christian denominations it is understood as a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints' return to the New Earth.
Anna Blackwell was a British writer, journalist, and translator who focused on spiritual and social issues. She had a long and successful career as Parisian correspondent of leading colonial papers. She also wrote poetry, fairy tales, and essays on occult subjects. As a teacher and journalist, she exercised a wide influence in the U.S. and in France.
Denominated basic works of Spiritism, also referred to as Codificação Espírita, are five books published by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail under the pseudonym Allan Kardec, between 1857 and 1868. The Basic Works are part of the Fundamental Works of Spiritist Doctrine, which comprise 11 publications by Allan Kardec.
For Spiritism, Jesus is the most perfect model of a human being that God has offered to serve as a guide. In this sense, Allan Kardec states that, "for humankind, Jesus constitutes the type of moral perfection that Humanity can aspire to on Earth. God offers him to us as the most perfect model, and the doctrine he taught is the purest expression of the Lord's law because, being the most spiritually pure of all those who have appeared on Earth, he was animated by the Divine Spirit".
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