Allan Kardec, whose real name was Hyppolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, was a French educator that, despite his initial skepticism, started investigating some strange and unexplained phenomena that were occurring in France during the 1850’s. Very soon he realized, however, the importance and the serious aspects of those phenomena and started doing careful research through mediums (chanellers) who received messages from spirits.
The great work done by Kardec was to intensively question the spirits, searching for answers that could explain all the aspects of life. He published the questions he asked and the answers he received from the spiritual world in a book called “The Spirits’ Book”. These explanations were accepted as truth once Kardec’s group received messages in which the essence coincided in several instances.
The Spirits’ Book was the initial mark of the so called The Spiritist Doctrine (or Spiritism), which strongly encourages mankind to respect, love and help one another. It also teaches the steps mankind should take in order to grow in its evolution.