Caodaism sees itself as the product of the "Third Alliance Between God and Man," the third and final revelation. Disciples believe that Caodaism avoids the failures of the first two periods because it is based on divine truth as communicated through spirits, which serve as messengers of salvation and instructors of doctrine. Spirits who have been in touch with the Caodai included deceased Caodai leaders, heroes, philosophers, poets, political leaders, as well as ordinary people. Among the contacted spirits who lived are Joan of Arc, Rene Descartes, William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur and Vladimir Illyich Lenin. It is said that Shakespeare hasn't been heard from since 1935.The term "Caodai" means "high tower or palace," and is used to refer to God. According to the Lonely Planet guidebook to Vietnam, Caodaism was founded in 1926 by a mystic man named Ngo Minh Chieu, who widely read Western and Eastern religious works. Around 1919 he began to receive a series of revelations from Caodai in which the tenets of Caodai doctrine were set forth.
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