The Spiritist philosophy is conspicuously missing a “life-time review” as a common documented element of the death process.  The omission begs the question: Is the Spiritist Philosophy incomplete?

Our previous article noted that none of the works by Allan Kardec (or the vast automatic writing literature by Chico Xavier) described a single case of a life-time review, which is especially alarming in view of the frequency it occurs in a majority of Near-Death experiences that have been reported in the last 40 years.

Curious minds may wonder why this important phenomenon is lacking.  Was it due to the limitations of the mediums, an unconscious cultural constraint, or yet a decision by the mentors to defer it to the future?

Here is an example of a life-time review that speaks so credibly to our beliefs.

“All of a sudden, my entire life flashed before my eyes, complete in every detail. Every event and scenario that had occurred during my life was there for me to examine, and I had the opportunity to scrutinize all or any part of it. It is impossible for me to say how long the life review actually lasted. The entire review appeared to last for only a split-second, because all the events of my entire life were shown to me simultaneously. Yet I was free to examine each and every part of my life, piece by piece, to the finest detail. Time was subjective and distance was non-existent, because I was in every place at the same time. When my attention was drawn to a particular situation or set of circumstances, there I was already experiencing the moment. In other words, I literally saw every last detail of my entire life, compressed into a split second.”

“Not only did I review my life from my own personal viewpoint, but also from the perspective of others with whom I had connected at various times and places. Now I knew precisely what people were thinking and feeling about me. Every time I hurt someone’s feelings, I felt their pain. Now I felt the results of all my hurtful words and deeds; I could literally sense their every thought and feeling in response to me, which felt downright awful. On the other side of the fence, every time I was kind, or whenever I had helped people or brought them happiness, I felt their joy and appreciation.

“But there was no injustice whatsoever in my life review, for I could see that I was the architect of all my actions and the master of all my virtues and vices, as we all are.[1]”

The Spiritist Philosophy is incomplete in the same sense that we refer to Newton, Einstein, and quantum mechanics as examples of the modification of an existing theory. Newton wasn’t wrong. He just didn’t have enough information. His ideas still hold up when we apply them to a falling apple. Likewise, Einstein’s work wasn’t overturned by the discovery of quantum mechanics. Each of these new ideas simply added to what we had already learned. The theories of Newton and Einstein aren’t wrong, but they do not apply to all situations. This is because the scientists didn’t have enough information to expand on the theory at the time it was formed.

The Spiritist Philosophy doesn’t have a centralized structure in the Catholic or Anglican mode that establishes rituals and beliefs. Spiritism has no hierarchy or formal leadership. It evolves with the people, the practitioners’ experiences, and with the culture that surrounds its centers of practice. It accepts evolution as a norm and transformation as part of its natural growth. However, while all these represent aspirations, the Spiritist Philosophy does depend on the initiative and courage of people to openly debate new ideas and with a disposition to rely on objective evidence.

Mediumship has been documented for over 150 years the primary tool for communication between dimensions. While there have been a few very reliable mediums, e.g. Francisco Xavier, Edgar Cayce, Divaldo Franco, the majority of mediums are tools of spiritual comfort rather than providers of unassailable evidences. The goal of the Spiritist Philosophy from its beginning was to provide proof of the continuity of life, and to demonstrate that human beings have a soul that exists, transcending the life of the body.

We are now seeing the development of a new tool to demonstrate the existence of the consciousness (spirit or soul) through the extensive data collected by medical scientists studying Near-Death Experiences (NDE’s). The possibility of bringing back a person, clinically dead for more than thirty minutes, has stretched the boundaries between life and death, and has changed how we approach life on Earth.

When we acknowledge Near-Death Experiences as fact, it follows that Spiritist Philosophy is incomplete.  It is important that we accept this fact and not reject it.

Highly specific and detailed NDE’s and resuscitation medicine provide unquestionable evidence of consciousness survival, and by extension the continuity of life beyond death.

As science and technology evolve, other tools will become available, revealing even more about the death experience, and we must be open to the fact of them all. We cannot keep on relying on classic mediumship alone when other powerful instruments provide more and advancing evidence.

Spiritist Philosophy is incomplete, and that fact aligns perfectly with the design and workings of the Universe.  After all, isn’t this the whole purpose of the spiritual enterprise that has Jesus at the helm, to help us to awaken to our intrinsic reality as souls who happen to be temporarily inhabiting a body of flesh in our eternal journey of evolution toward God?