From
item 12 to 16, Chapter II of Genesis, Allan Kardec develops a reasoning
line on the causes of instinct, ending it in item 17 with the following
words: “All previously explained ways of understanding instinct are
forcibly hypothetical and none of them has a safe character of
authenticity. This
question will undoubtedly be clarified one day when the observation
elements that are lacking are gathered. Until then all we can do
is submitting the several opinions to reason and logic and waiting for
light to happen. The solution closer to truth will surely be the one
that’s best compatible to God’s attributes, that is, supreme goodness
and supreme justice.”
The
purpose of this work is showing that the observation elements that were
lacking to clarify the question have already been gathered. We don’t
feel at ease to proceed with this argument, however, without first
paying tribute to Allan Kardec for his final observation, a product of
his highly inspired wisdom, that is, when he says that, no matter which
hypothesis proves to be True, it will always be “the one that’s best
compatible to God’s attributes, that is, supreme goodness and supreme
justice. “
We
saw in my article published last month that there is a tenuous border
between intelligence and instinct. I haven’t yet called our reader’s
attention, however, to a fact that was clear then, to say, that
intelligent actions are, under no matter what circumstances, always
performed by an individual and only learned and reproduced by the other
members of the same group after being proved successful. Therefore,
before a learned behavior can crystallize in a group and thenceforth in
the group’s species as a fixed action pattern – another name of
instinct, as we have learned – all members must already share that
behavior.
Talking
about Intelligence in Item 12 Chapter III of Genesis, Kardec says that
it’s “unquestionably an attribute of the soul”. Now that we have
learned that individuals are the ones that perform intelligent actions,
we need to find a key to relate the ideas of soul and individuality so
that the comprehension on how that relation occurs allows us to
integrate the teachings of science and those of the Spiritist
Codification into a single understanding. In order to achieve this
purpose we are once more going to make use of the thesis proposed by
André Luiz and developed by Jorge Andréa as to the
development of individuality.
Shortly
after the first half of Chapter II of Jorge Andréa’s excellent
work called Creative Drives of Evolution, the author defines the
concept of group-soul. I will try to explain the concept using
quotations so that we can see in which way it will help us in our
understanding.
Feeding open mouths, instinct shared by all
members of a species - www.thebestfree.net
“Simpler species would have a more interconnected
spiritual-energy-drive, allowing us to refer to the
group-soul-of-the-species – a dynamic vortex that happens in the
superior dimension, beyond time and space, exercising its influence
upon a whole set of beings. In other words, a single vibrational field
controlling the species to which it’s assigned”.
“As
the species loses its colonial connections, a typical trait of the
simplest forms, its members acquire relative individuality and the
dynamic vortex that directs their destiny succeeds in sculpting a true
nucleus - a little I (see note*) - out of the energy whole of the
group-soul-of-the-species. Therefore, the group-soul, that combined
dynamic force that directs the colonies of minerals, vegetables and
primitive animals, would start to show in its body little whirling
centers of motion each representing the beginning of individuality
definition, as a result of evolution’s maturation. Those however
wouldn’t either dare or be able to survive separated from the colony
from which they were formed and from which they feed.”
‘”At
a certain moment when the maturation of those group-soul ’s dynamic
vortexes reaches a higher degree of affirmation and experience, they
tend to break their dynamic links to the energy that has brought them
forth absorbing whatever they need form the “mother-energy”. When that
happens the group-soul is scattered in proper nucleuses, affirmation of
its little I’s – individualities – starting to have more liberty.”
“This
liberating phase of the spiritual energies must occur in those animal
species where new psychological aspects and the first emotions start to
show and where the sexual mechanism appears with different variations.
Following certain logic we may include in our assertion those animals
whose nervous system reveals the first cells of a future pineal gland
and which are called pineal eyes due to their primitive appearance. …
From those animals onwards the group-soul practically starts
disappearing as it gives place to the birth of individualities.”
We
may stop examining the proposed model for the purpose we have in view.
Being
intelligence, as explained by Kardec, an exclusive attribute of the
soul and intelligent actions, as we can conclude from scientific
studies, something only performed by individuals, it stays clear that
something lies beyond the scrutiny of science, suggesting that there is
something happening in the spiritual dimensions.
Using
Jorge Andréa’s explanation, we can infer that the group-souls of
the most primitive species work in the spiritual dimensions under the
supervision of the Spirits that direct their actions in order to
acquire the behavior characteristics most appropriate to the
development of each one, so that those characteristics may next be
added to the knowledge of each species as a whole. Such an
understanding would explain why certain instincts of primitive species,
like the choreography performed by bees when they want to communicate
the location of the flowers from which they suck the nectar, seem to be
directed by superior intelligence, although they remain unchanged
either from one member to the other or from one generation to the next.
As
individual vortexes are formed from the group-soul-of-the-species and
individualities become better and better defined, intelligence in the
members of the correspondent species becomes more and more evident to
scientific observation.
At
the present stage of spiritist and scientific understanding, therefore,
I believe that we can take a step forward along the reasoning line that
Kardec left inconclusive in Genesis with respect to the causes of
instinct.
Using
the model proposed by Jorge Andréa we can view the most
primitive beings as directed and helped in groups. The cruder the
capacities of those beings and the simpler their needs then the more
general that direction and help will be. As the spiritual principle
evolves with the corresponding definition of the vortexes that will
cause the birth of individualities, the more specific must the
direction become and the help given to each being. Therefore, the
importance of general influence must correspondently decrease. In the
same manner, evolution will take place more and more in the material
and less and less in the spiritual dimensions.
We
know that nationalities, which are no more than communities of Spirits
sharing the same cultural background, have each a corresponding
spiritual protector. So, we know, for instance, that Ismael, Bezerra de
Menezes, Emmanuel and Joanna de Ângelis, just to name a few, are
Spirits in charge of the Brazilian people. We know of the
responsibility of our beloved master and model Jesus with respect to
the human race and to the other species of the planet as well as of the
responsibility of other high order Spirits, like Buddha, Krishna, Lao
Tzu, Mohamed and Moses, among others, for the communities of other
religious traditions, to whom they stand as masters, prophets or
models. However, although it’s true that we don’t lack the general
orientation we need as creatures, species, religious community and
national people, each of us also has a specific spiritual guide, who
follows us along many lives, always patient and wise.
Considering that the noblest organizations of the material dimensions
are but imperfect copies of those that exist in the spiritual
dimensions, we think that an analogy to our educational institutions
looks appropriate. In kindergarten an educator and a few trained
attendants can deal with all the children. In elementary school a main
educator and a few support educators for parallel activities do the
job. In intermediate school there is an educator for each subject and
the classes are organized according to some criteria with more
specialization in high school. At the university specialization
increases, contemplating academic areas of interest whereas the number
of educators continuously increases, including, not only teachers, but
lecturers, laboratory advisers and others. At graduation, on top of all
academic professionals available for undergraduate students, a personal
counselor is assigned to help the student. As support gets more and
more focused, however, the network of support for all the communality
remains always present so that, no matter if the student is in
elementary school or graduation, there are always directors,
vice-directors and other professionals in charge of each specific
aspect of academic life.
Teachers and Pupils, here as well as in the
spiritual plane. - Elementary
school class at Escola Espírita Joanna de Ângelis:
www.ieja.org
Further
back in this simple work I said that I believed that we could take a
step forward along the reasoning line that Kardec left inconclusive in
Genesis with respect to the causes of instinct. I hope that we have
been successful in attaining that purpose.
*****
*
Note: The author gives the name “little I’s” to the first occurrences
of individuality in a species as opposed to the previous evolution
stage when we would refer to the members of that same species only in
the plural form since they would all behave extremely alike.
Bibliography
Andréa
dos Santos, Jorge. Impulsos
Criativos da Evolução (Evolution’s Creatve Drives).
Rio de Janeiro: Societo Lorenz, 1995.
Costa,
Renato. The Tenuous Border.
Revista Internacional do Espiritismo, Year LXXVIII, N 07. Matão:
August 2003.
Kardec,
Allan. A Gênese (Gênesis)..
Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1995.
Xavier,
Francisco Cândido, and Vieira, Waldo. Evolução em Dois Mundos
(Evolution in two Worlds). Dictated by Spirit André
Luiz. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1993.
