Articles in English 
If we look back at our own past with a little sense of criticism, we will be able to identify the flawless attitudes which set us astray from the path of progress and amelioration. How many times are we caught with the idea that if we had the opportunity to go back in our past, we would have done a lot of things differently. This line of thinking does not deny the fact that we have indeed progressed, both materially and spiritually. However, it is an irrefutable true that we still find ourselves living in an unbalanced world. To come to this conclusion, one needs solely to spend a few hours watching the daily news around the world.
Why is it that we are unable to do better and consequently improve the world where we live in? Has there been a lack of good teachings towards righteousness as well as good examples? Are the laws adopted at different ages and societies not good enough to set us into the path of goodness and personal amelioration? Has religious orthodoxy played an important role in this world scenario we live in right now?
These are questions that demand urgent answers. They set the stage for our own existential inquiries, which eventually will point us in the right direction, helping us to hasten our own improvement, and the improvement of the world will undoubtedly be the end result.
The art of "self-defense" has played a major role in preventing us to come across the proper answers to these questions. This has been a constant atavistic behavior attached to humanity. Therefore, we find it easier to join the wide majority of our fellows human beings in the useless blaming game, trying to find the reasons for our failures elsewhere. The religious orthodoxy has not succeeded in driving the intelligence of men towards fulfillment, for their catechism reaches out with the solely purpose of achieving power. It cares not about assisting us in developing our powers of reasoning, and therefore it cannot help us resist the outside influences that we are bound to face in our everyday lives.
It is time for us to give heed to the aphorism that served as a guide for the great philosopher Socrates in his life's quest to seek the Truth, that is, "Know thyself". This supreme objective is, in the words of one of the greatest spiritist philosopher and writer, Leon Denis, "the most essential study for us is that of ourselves. It is above all imperative that we should know what we are and this is just the problem which, until now, has been the most obscure".
Frankly speaking, we are forced to recognized that there has not been lack of neither uplifting teachings and messages, nor laws or examples to serve us as secure guidance towards balance, goodness and happiness. In this regard it is appropriated to quote here the great American historian and philosopher Will Durant when he says: "If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist, and thinks laws in his own case superfluous."
The teachings imparted from the spiritual world in the last two centuries, those under the banner of The New Revelation, the so-called "organized invasion" of the spirits, to use the words of the great writer and spiritualist philosopher Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, impels us to a complete different approach. These teachings, which were compiled by the French educator and philosopher Allan Kardec in a great synthesis known as the Spiritist Doctrine, offer a safe and secure guideline that will help us achieve happiness in this world, for it appeals greatly to our reason and common sense and do not fools us by easy promises or unreachable goals.
Amongst the primary and essential characteristics of the teachings of the Spiritist Doctrine, one that clearly reaches out, is the principle of individual responsibility. It is about time for all of us to understand that happiness is within our reach. However, we need to break the barriers of our own atavism and put a stop in the constant circles of laziness and dependence, waiting for someone to do for us what we must do ourselves. If we truly decide to take steps towards this direction, spiritism offers a great deal of help, for it is a great tool in helping us to know ourselves. So, let us acknowledge and follow the gospel's maxim: "If you help yourself then heaven will come to your aid".
It is also opportune to remind Allan Kardec's wise advice in the Introduction of The Spirits' Book that says: "Spiritist philosophy consists of teachings imparted by spirits, and the knowledge thus conveyed is of a character far too serious to be mastered without serious and persevering attention."
It is perhaps the only way that will eventually lead us to embrace the true religion that Conan Doyle spoke about in his uplifting message [Doyle on the New Man], channeled two years after his decease in 1932, from which we extracted the following:
“Only one true religion exists, only one reality behind all form, belief, sect, creed and ceremony. This is a universal religion, neither bound, nor circumscribed by geographical limitations, conventions or prejudice. It has but one name, that name can be understood by any and every man, be he white, black, yellow or red, by every woman and child, by animal and bird, by tree and flower, and every creature instinct with the Breath of Life. The religion of True Brotherhood has but one meaning and one name, and that is Love”.
Source: The Spiritist Messenger, 16th Year, Number 92, February 2008