-  "Discovery of the Spirit" - translated excerpt from the book of a Brazilian, Spiritist author.

- Other Spiritist Reading (currently available in English)

- A website on current investigations and discoveries of the scientific world (proving the afterlife)  

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The following is a translated excerpt from the book, "O Consolador Entre Nós" [The Consoler Among Us], written by Brazilian author, Americano Domingos Nunes Filho, published in 1992 by O Clarim -- chapter: "Discovery of the Spirit".

Ever since the evolutionary phase in which primitive man acquired intellect, he has known, intuitively, that death does not interrupt life.  Life itself precedes the physical vehicle and likewise, continues beyond the grave.

Prehistoric beings buried their dead together with their belongings, as they believed in the continuation of life after life.

Renowned psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung, said, "The fullness of life requires more than a simple being; it needs a spirit, independent and superior, exclusively able to call to life all the psychic possibilities that the Conscience-Ego, itself, can not reach ("Realidad del Alma" <Reality of the Soul>/ Ed. Losada S.A. B.Aires).

The existence of a physical body, with trillions of cells, created upon the union of egg and sperm, can not be the result of chance, especially considering the harmonic cellular differentiation that takes place, an intelligent process that creates organs and systems, without the active participation of the pregnant mother.  There truly is a "Central Regulatory Energy", or a Directing Spiritual Element, responsible for the formation of the physical body.

During the process of embryogensis* ,  this Extra-physical Intelligence repeats the evolution that took place during the animal sequence (phylogenesis*); initially, the egg resembles an ameba, followed by the phases typical of the reptiles and birds-- a sure proof of the existence of a spiritual being, remembering the course traveled in the animal kingdom.  This phenomena is still a puzzle to science, since it will only be understood in acknowledgement of its proof of the Extra-corporeal Energy or Spirit, liberating all that it holds archived from the millenniums of evolution.

In the melting pot of planet Earth, the transcendental Being, while suffering from the rigor of a denser vibratory state which acts as a true, cellular prison, will have the opportunity to grow, to develop its potentialities, and to seek out a possible degree of perfection, through the diverse opportunities afforded by the process of reincarnation.

When will humanity have sure proof of the existence of the extra-physical Being?  We believe that science will be given the responsibility of testifying to the existence of the Spirit.

Numerous well-known scientists have already had the opportunity to prove the existence of the spiritual essence that gives life to the physical body.

William Crookes, an English physicist (London 1832-1919), discovered talcum in 1861; studied rarified gases; invented the radiometer (1872) and the electronic tubes of cold cathode for the production of x-rays; discovered in 1878 the properties of cathode rays; won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1907 (source: Great Encyclopedia of Delta Larousse- Ed Delta SA); and researched the mediumistic production of ectoplasm by the young medium, Florence Cook, through the materialization of the spirit, Kati King. ...................

After Crookes, many scientists studied spiritual phenomenology and arrived at the conclusion of truth in the existence of the Spirit. The most important were:  Russel Wallace, lodge, Myers, Hodgson, Zollner, Weber, Fechner, Ulrici, Aksakof, Bouterow, Falconer, Chiaia, Brofferio, Finzi, Schiaparelli, Cesar Lombroso, Gibier, Richet, De Rochas, Camille Flammarion, e Ernesto Bozzano.

More recently, a great number of scientists have dedicated themselves to the the analysis of tapes related to electromagnetic recording, containing voices of beings from beyond the grave, as well as the communication with Spirits through sophisticated electronic instruments.

It all started with Frederich Juergenson, the great discoverer of "Voice Phenomena" in Switzerland, in the 1950s.  This experimenter stated that the voices came from the so-called dead, and he wrote two books on the subject, one of them known in Brazil as "Um telephone para Alem"*  

After that, other researchers appeared, such as the psychologist Konstantin Raudive, in Germany, in 1958 and subsequently, the psychologist and professor of Moral and Religious Education, Peter Bander.  The latter joined in the experiment upon hearing the distinct voice of his mother on a recording done by book editor, Colin Smythe.  

The title of Konstantin Raudive's book is "Breakthrough", and Peter Brander's book, "Os Espiritos Comunicam-se por Gravadores" <Spirits Communicate through Recorders>, was published in Brasil by Edicel (Editora Cultural Espirita Ltda), Sao Paulo.

The scientific world was still shocked and surprised by the recording of communications from spirits, when it become known that, in the United States, the engineer George William Meek was communicating with the dead through an electronic instrument called SPIRICOM, in 1971.

Dr. Hernani Guimaraes Andrade informs us, in the International Spiritist Magazine (Revista Internacional Espirita) of February 1989, that "the electronic technician William John O'Neil, in 1977, after several attempts, was able to make contact with the Spirit Doe Nick, who claimed to be an American doctor that died in 1973.  In 1978, another Spirit, George Jeffries Meulier, identified himself as a doctor in physics and, together with John O'Niel, perfected the system constructed previously, called SPIRICOM-MARK III.  The result was 20 hours of two way conversation.  This new apparatus was named SPIRICOM-MAKR IV."   

Meek is founder and president of the META-Science Foundation, and according to Andrade, "he is dedicating himself to encouraging such experiments around the world and to maintaining the awareness- regarding the latest discoveries- of a  great number of persons interested in the area of transcommunication.   

Dr. Andrade also reports that in Germany, the scientist "Klaus Schreiber (passed away 8/1/88) and his technical assistant Martin Wenzel, already obtained a considerable number of photographs and images transmitted from the Spiritual Plane. Schreiber and Wenzel received these images by way of televisions, equipped with a "feed-back' system."

Dr. Andrade goes on to say that "the director of Luxemburg Radio, Rainer Holbe, wrote a book released by the publisher Knaur of Munich, under the title "Images of the Distant Kingdom of the Dead"* This book contains more than two dozen photos of well-known people who had already died, including photos of the two wives of Schreiber, who had been dead for some time.  The photographs in question were obtained by Schreiber and Wenzel, in the city of Aachen, of Western Germany."

In addition to the scientific research that has been analyzed, proving the existence of the immortal Spirit, scientists are also faced with facts related by people who have been on the edge of death.  They were clinically dead and came back to life after a cardiac revival. *     

In the United States, Doctors Elizabeth Kluber-Ross, Raymond Moody, and George Ritchia, in more than 10 years of research and working in different cities, arrived at similar conclusions. 

The three scientists are respected by the American scientific world for their professional abilities and their sincerity in the sharing of their experiences.  Dr. Raymond Moody is the author of the best seller, "Life After Life", where he describes numerous testimonies of patients with identical experiences.  Though they were on the brink of death, with no signs of life, they found themselves light and floating close to their physical bodies, hearing and seeing everything that happened around them. Though their eyes were closed, with eyelids shut, they saw, vividly, the people involved in the medical emergency treatment.  Almost all were unanimous in speaking of a tunnel at the end of which they saw an amazing light.  The mention of seeing lighted spiritual begins is also constant.

Professor Ian Stevenson, of the University of Virginia, has many studied and proven cases of children who claim to remember a past life.

We also have the evidence from memory regression hypnosis, in which the individual traces back through previous stages of his or her current and past life.  This process is currently being used as a therapeutic resource (Past Life Regression Therapy), when a person becomes aware of traumas, from this or a past life, which were repressed in the unconscious, causing them perturbing distresses of a psychic or psychosomatic nature.  Numerous scientists, such as Dr. Morris Netherton and Edith Fiore, have books published on the subject. *   Professor Banerjee, already deceased, treated more than a thousand patients treated by Past Life Regression Therapy.

The study existence of the spiritual individuality, existing prior to and surviving the death of the physical body, no longer belongs strictly to the field of religions.  Science itself is beginning to take its first steps in the direction of the discovery of the soul.

The moment will come, and it is close, in which "scientists", before their Societies, Associations ions and Academies, will proclaim the reality of the eternal Spirit.

At that moment, Jesus will come to reign forever in the hearts of humans, since He is the live proof of the presence of the Spirit and its survival beyond the grave.

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* Translator's notes: 

Embryogenisis is the formation and development of an embryo 
(The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins Publishers)

Phylogenesis is the sequence of events involved in the evolution of a species, genus, etc. 
(The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins Publishers)

"Um telephone para Alem"- translation (of portuguese title) would be something like ~ A telephone to the other side   

"Images of the Distant " Note: This is our translation of the Portuguese translation of the original German title (which we do not know).

Facts related by people who have been on the edge of death = experiencing what we know as "near-death experiences".

Past Life Regression -- Another well-known author on this topic is Dr. Brian Weiss.

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*Additional Spiritist Resources regarding Studies of the Spirit --Available in English:

* For More Information on Current Scientific Discoveries (outside the Spiritist arena)- (non-Spiritist website):

Normally, we purposely limit the contents of this website to the Doctrine of Spiritism and explaining what it's all about.  However, we feel that for this particular section/topic, this website is worth mentioning:  VictorZammit.com.  (This is not a Spiritist site)  In it you will find a much information on current discoveries of the scientific world, with respect to the existence of the spirit and it's survival beyond material death.  You can read his book online. (Victor Zammit  is a retired lawyer of the Supreme Court and High Court of Australia. His book is entitled "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife".)