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959 | null | null | null | null | null | Where does our instinctive sentiment of a future life come from? | We have already told you: prior to its incarnation, the spirit knows all these things and the soul retains a vague memory of what it knows and of what it saw in its spirit state. | null |
960 | null | null | null | null | null | Where does the belief in future rewards and punishments, which is found in all cultures, come from? | It is always the same thing: a presentiment of reality imparted to human beings by their spirit. You should know that it is not uselessly that an inner voice speaks to you; your mistake is in not listening to it. If you thought well and frequently about this, you would make yourselves better. | null |
961 | null | null | null | null | null | At the moment of death, what is the dominant sentiment in most people: doubt, fear or hope? | Doubt for hardhearted skeptics, fear for the guilty and hope for the good. | null |
962 | null | null | null | null | null | Why are there skeptics since the soul brings the sentiment of spiritual things to everyone? | There are fewer skeptics than you might think. During life, many pretend they are bold out of pride, but at the moment of death they cease being boastful. | null |
963 | null | null | null | null | null | Is God concerned personally with each individual? Isn’t God too great and aren’t we too small for each individual in particular to have any importance in the divine sight? | God is concerned with all created beings, no matter how small they may be. Nothing is too small for God’s goodness. | null |
964 | null | null | null | null | null | Must God be concerned with each of our actions in order to reward or punish us? Aren’t most of such actions insignificant to God? | God has established the divine laws that regulate all your actions. If you violate them, the fault is yours. Obviously, when people commit an excess, God does not pronounce sentence on them by saying, for example, ‘You are a glutton and I am going to punish you.’ But God has set a limit: maladies, and sometimes death, ... | null |
965 | null | null | null | null | null | Is there anything material about the joys and sorrows of the soul after death? | They cannot be material since the soul is not matter. Common sense says so. There is nothing carnal about future joys and sorrows, and that is why they are a thousand times more vivid than those experienced on earth. Once disengaged from matter, the spirit is more impressionable; matter no longer weakens its sensitivit... | null |
966 | null | null | null | null | null | Why do human beings have such crude and absurd ideas about the joys and sorrows of the future life? | Because their intelligence is not yet sufficiently developed. Does the child comprehend in the same way as the adult? Besides, it also depends on how they have been taught – that is the point at which there is the most need for reform. “Your language is too incomplete to express what exists beyond your reach. Thus, it ... | null |
967 | null | null | null | null | null | What does the happiness of good spirits consist of? | In knowing all things; in feeling no hatred, jealousy, envy, ambition or any of the passions that make people unhappy. The love that unites them is a source of supreme happiness. They do not experience the needs, sufferings or anxieties of material life. They are happy with the good they do. Moreover, the happiness of ... | null |
968 | null | null | null | null | null | You place the absence of material needs among the conditions of happiness for spirits. But isn’t the satisfaction of those needs a source of enjoyment for humans? | Yes, the gratification of their animal passions. When they cannot satisfy those needs, it is torture. | null |
969 | null | null | null | null | null | What are we to understand when it is said that pure spirits are gathered in the bosom of God and employed in singing praises to God? | It is an allegory to give you an idea of the knowledge they possess about the perfections of God because they see and comprehend God. Like all other allegories, however, you must not take it literally. Everything in nature sings, from the grain of sand on up, proclaiming the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God. ... | null |
970 | null | null | null | null | null | What do the sufferings of low order spirits consist of? | They are as varied as the causes that produce them and are in proportion to their degree of impurity, in the same way that enjoyments are in proportion to their degree of purity. We can thus sum them up: coveting everything they lack to be happy but not being able to obtain it; seeing happiness but being unable to atta... | null |
971 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the influence exerted by spirits over one another always good? | It is always good on the part of good spirits, of course. However, perverse spirits endeavor to draw aside from the path of repentance and the good those whom they think are susceptible of being misled, and whom they often led into evil during their earthly lives. No, but the action of evil spirits is much less signifi... | null |
971a | null | null | null | null | null | So death does not deliver us from temptation? | No, but the action of evil spirits is much less significant over other spirits than over human beings because other spirits are no longer sustained by material passions. | null |
972 | null | null | null | null | null | In what way do evil spirits tempt other spirits since they cannot count on the passions to help them? | Although the passions no longer exist in the material sense, they still exist mentally in little-evolved spirits. They lure their victims to places where they can witness the spectacle of those passions and everything that arouses them. That is precisely what comprises their torture: misers see gold that they cannot po... | null |
973 | null | null | null | null | null | What are the greatest sufferings evil spirits have to endure? | It is utterly impossible to describe the mental tortures that are the punishment for some crimes. The actual spirits who suffer them find it difficult to give you an idea of them, but assuredly, the most frightful is the thought of being condemned forever. | null |
974 | null | null | null | null | null | Where does the doctrine of eternal fire come from? | An image taken as reality – like so many others. See for yourself whether or not it even restrains those who teach it. If you teach things that reason will later reject, you produce an impression that will be neither durable nor healthy. | null |
974a | null | null | null | null | null | But couldn’t this fear lead to a good result? | See for yourself whether or not it even restrains those who teach it. If you teach things that reason will later reject, you produce an impression that will be neither durable nor healthy. | null |
975 | null | null | null | null | null | Do low order spirits comprehend the happiness of the morally upright? | Yes, and that is what tortures them, for they understand that they are deprived of it due to their own fault. That is why the spirit, freed from matter, aspires to a new corporeal existence. It knows that each existence, if well employed, will shorten the duration of that torment. With that in mind, it chooses the tria... | null |
976 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the sight of suffering spirits a cause of affliction for the good ones, and if so, does it disturb their happiness? | It is not an affliction, because they know that such evil will end, and they help the others in their betterment by lending them a helping hand. That is their occupation and a joy when they succeed. If they did not see your sufferings, it would mean they are estranged from you after death. Religion tells you that souls... | null |
977 | null | null | null | null | null | Since spirits cannot hide their thoughts from one another, and since all the acts of their lives are known, does it follow that those who are guilty continually see their victims as being present? | Common sense tells you that it cannot be otherwise. More than you might think, but it only lasts until it has expiated its wrong-doing either as a spirit or as an individual in new corporeal existences. | null |
978 | null | null | null | null | null | Doesn’t the memory of the wrongs committed by a soul while still imperfect disturb its happiness even after it has purified itself? | No, because it has atoned for its wrongs and has come forth victorious from the trials to which it had submitted itself for that very purpose. | null |
979 | null | null | null | null | null | Aren’t the trials it still must undergo in order to complete its purification a heavy concern that disturbs its happiness? | In the case of the soul that still remains tainted, yes. That is why it cannot enjoy perfect happiness until it is entirely pure. Nonetheless, for the soul who has already progressed, the thought of the trials it still must undergo has nothing painful about it. | null |
980 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the link of affinity that unites spirits of the same order a source of happiness for them? | The unity of spirits who are attuned to one another through the good is one of their greatest joys because they do not have to fear seeing that unity disturbed by selfishness. On entirely spiritual worlds, they form families animated by the same sentiment, and from that they derive their spiritual happiness – the same ... | null |
981 | null | null | null | null | null | Regarding the future state of the spirit, is there any difference between those who have feared death and those who have looked upon it with indifference or even with joy? | The difference can be very great, although this is usually obliterated by the causes that produce such fear or desire. Those who fear death or those who desire it may be moved by very different sentiments, and it is these sentiments that will influence a spirit’s future Future Joys and Sorrows state. For instance, it i... | null |
982 | null | null | null | null | null | Is it necessary to make a profession of faith in Spiritism and to believe in the manifestations in order to ensure our well-being in the next life? | If that were so, then all those who do not believe in them, or who have not had the opportunity of learning anything about them, would be disinherited, which is absurd. Only the good ensures one’s future well-being. The good is always the good, whatever the path that leads to it. | null |
983 | null | null | null | null | null | Since a spirit who expiates its wrongs in a new life undergoes physical suffering, is it correct to say that after death the soul experiences only mental suffering? | It is very true that the tribulations of life represent a suffering for the reincarnated soul, but it is only the body that undergoes physical suffering. “You usually say that a dead person no longer suffers, but this is not always true. As a spirit it no longer suffers physical pain, but depending on the wrongs it has... | null |
984 | null | null | null | null | null | Are the troubles of life always punishment for current wrongs? | No. We have already told you that they are trials imposed by God or chosen by you yourselves in the spirit state before your reincarnation in order to expiate the wrongs committed in a former life. No infraction of the laws of God, and especially of the law of justice, ever remains unpunished, and if punishment is not ... | null |
985 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the reincarnation of a soul on a less dense world a reward? | It is a consequence of its purification, for as spirits become purified, they reincarnate on successively better worlds to the point where they completely rid themselves of all matter and moral imperfections in order to eternally enjoy the bliss of pure spirits in the bosom of God. | null |
986 | null | null | null | null | null | Can spirits who have progressed during their terrestrial existence sometimes reincarnate on the same world? | Yes, if they have not been able to accomplish their mission and if they ask to complete it in a new existence; however, in that case, it is no longer an expiation for them. | null |
987 | null | null | null | null | null | What becomes of those who, without doing evil, nevertheless do nothing to shake off the influence of matter? | Since they have made no progress towards perfection, they must begin a new existence similar to the one they have left behind. They remain at a standstill, and thus can prolong the suffering of their expiation. | null |
988 | null | null | null | null | null | There are persons whose lives flow in perfect serenity, and having no worries, they are entirely free of concerns. Is their happy existence evidence that they have nothing to expiate from any former existence? | Do you know many like that? If you think you do, you are mistaken. Usually, such serenity is no more than apparent. They could have chosen such an existence, but when they leave it behind they perceive that it has not helped them to progress. Then, like those who have been idle, they regret the time they wasted. Bear i... | null |
989 | null | null | null | null | null | There are persons who, although not positively wicked, make everyone around them unhappy because of their character. What is the consequence of this for them? | Such persons are assuredly not good. They will expiate this wrong by the sight of those whom they have made unhappy, and this will comprise a constant reproach for them. Then, in another existence, they will endure all that they have caused others to endure. | null |
990 | null | null | null | null | null | Does repentance take place in the corporeal or the spirit state? | In the spirit state. But it may also take place in the corporeal state when you clearly comprehend the difference between good and evil. | null |
991 | null | null | null | null | null | What is the consequence of repentance in the spirit state? | The spirit’s desire for a new incarnation in order to purify itself. It comprehends the imperfections that have kept it from being happy and it aspires to a new existence in which it can expiate its wrongs. | null |
992 | null | null | null | null | null | What is the consequence of repentance in the corporeal state? | Advancement while in the present corporeal life – if one has the time to mend one’s wrongs. Whenever your conscience reproaches you or shows you an imperfection, you may always improve yourselves. | null |
993 | null | null | null | null | null | Aren’t there individuals who have an instinct for evil only and who are incapable of repenting? | I have told you that the spirit must progress without ceasing. Those who in this life have only an instinct for evil will have an instinct for the good in another one, and that is why they are reborn many times. All must advance and reach the objective at their own pace, more quickly or more slowly, according to their ... | null |
994 | null | null | null | null | null | Do wicked individuals, who during their life did not recognize their wrongs, always recognize them after death? | Yes, they always recognize them and suffer even more because they regret all the evil they did or of which they were the intentional cause. Nevertheless, repentance is not always immediate. There are spirits who obstinately persist in doing wrong in spite of their suffering; but sooner or later they will see that they ... | null |
995 | null | null | null | null | null | Are there spirits who, although not wicked, are nonetheless indifferent about their fate? | There are spirits who do not occupy themselves with anything useful, keeping themselves in a state of expectancy. They suffer in proportion to their inactivity, however, and since everything must lead to progress, such progress is realized through suffering. Undoubtedly they do, but they lack the willpower for what it ... | null |
995a | null | null | null | null | null | Don’t they desire to shorten their suffering? | Undoubtedly they do, but they lack the willpower for what it would take to alleviate it. How many individuals among you would rather die poor than work? | null |
996 | null | null | null | null | null | Since spirits see the harm that results from their wrongs, how is it that some aggravate their position and prolong their state of imperfection by doing evil as spirits and turning people aside from the path of the good? | Some spirits put off their repentance. Furthermore, a spirit who repents can afterward still allow itself to be drawn back onto the immoral path by spirits who are even less evolved. | null |
997 | null | null | null | null | null | We sometimes see spirits who are notoriously imperfect, but who are open to the good sentiments and prayers made on their behalf. How is it that other spirits whom we might believe are more enlightened show a callousness and cynicism impossible to break? | Prayer is only effective in the case of spirits who repent. Those who, driven by pride, revolt against God and persist in their wrong-doings, multiplying them further as unfortunate spirits do, cannot and never will receive the benefits of prayer until the day the light of repentance dawns on them. | null |
998 | null | null | null | null | null | Is expiation accomplished in the corporeal state or in the spirit state? | It is accomplished in the corporeal existence through the trials the spirit must undergo, and in the spirit life through the mental sufferings arising from its state of imperfection. | null |
999 | null | null | null | null | null | Is sincere repentance during life sufficient to extinguish a spirit’s wrongs and enable it to merit God’s grace? | Repentance helps to improve the spirit, but the past must nevertheless be expiated. If he persists in the thought of evil, his expiation will be all the longer and more painful. | null |
1000 | null | null | null | null | null | Can we redeem our wrongs in the present life? | Yes, by making reparation for them. Do not suppose, however, that you can redeem them through a few childish privations or through donations after your death when you no longer need your assets. God does not value a sterile repentance, which is always easy and costs no more than mourning by beating on one’s chest. The ... | null |
1000a | null | null | null | null | null | interest. (See no. 726) | Evil can only be atoned for by means of the good, and reparation does not have any merit if it does not strike human beings in their pride or their material interests. “What good would it do on our behalf if after our death we were to restore property which we acquired wrongly, and which we had thoroughly enjoyed durin... | null |
1001 | null | null | null | null | null | Is there any merit in ensuring that after our death the property we have left behind will be put to good use? | Merit is not quite the right term, but it is always better than doing nothing. Unfortunately, those who only give after their death are usually more selfish than generous – they want the honors of charitable acts without having to practice them. Those who deprive themselves during life have a double advantage: the meri... | null |
1002 | null | null | null | null | null | What can be done when at their death individuals recognize their wrongs but do not have the time remaining to make amends? Is repentance enough in such a case? | Repentance hastens their rehabilitation but it does not absolve them. Don’t they have the whole future ahead, which will never be closed to them? | null |
1003 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the duration of the sufferings of the guilty in the future life arbitrary or subordinate to some law? | God never acts capriciously and everything in the universe is ruled by laws that reveal the divine wisdom and goodness. | null |
1004 | null | null | null | null | null | What determines the duration of the sufferings of the guilty? | The length of time required for their improvement. Since the state of suffering or happiness is in proportion to a spirit’s degree of purification, the duration and nature of its sufferings depend on the time it takes to improve itself. As the spirit progresses and its sentiments become purer, its sufferings diminish a... | null |
1005 | null | null | null | null | null | Does time for a suffering spirit seem longer or shorter than when it was incarnate? | It seems longer because sleep does not exist. It is only for spirits who have reached a certain degree of purification that time is effaced, so to speak, in the face of the infinite. | null |
1006 | null | null | null | null | null | Can the duration of a spirit’s suffering be eternal? | Of course, if it were to remain eternally evil; that is to say, if it were never to repent or improve itself, it would then suffer eternally. However, God has not created beings eternally devoted to evil. They were only created simple and ignorant, and all of them must progress over a longer or shorter period of time a... | null |
1007 | null | null | null | null | null | Are there spirits who never repent? | There are spirits who put off their repentance, but supposing that they will never improve would be to deny the law of progress and to assert that the child will never become an adult. | null |
1008 | null | null | null | null | null | Does the duration of punishments always depend on the spirit’s own will or are there punishments that are imposed on it for a specific length of time? Future Joys and Sorrows | There are punishments that can be imposed on it for a specific length of time, but God, who wills only the good for God’s creatures, always welcomes its repentance. The spirit’s desire to improve is never fruitless. | null |
1009 | null | null | null | null | null | Accordingly, the punishments imposed are never eternal? | Consult your own common sense and reason, and ask yourselves whether an eternal condemnation for a few moments of error would not be a negation of God’s goodness. In fact, what is the duration of a life, even if it were to last a hundred years, in comparison to eternity? Eternity! Can you understand that word? Sufferin... | null |
1010 | null | null | null | null | null | Is the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh a reference to reincarnation as taught by the Spirits? | How could it be otherwise? This expression is similar to so many others that only appear to be nonsensical to those who take them literally and are driven to disbelief. However, give it a logical interpretation, and those whom 60 Tartarus was a section of Hades, the underground abode of the dead in Greek mythology whic... | null |
1011 | null | null | null | null | null | Then in the dogma of the resurrection of the flesh, does the Church teach the doctrine of reincarnation? | That is obvious. This doctrine is the consequence of many things which have gone unnoticed and which will soon be properly understood. Before long, the Church will realize that Spiritism relates at every step to the very text of the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, the Spirits have not come to subvert Christianity, as some ... | null |
1012 | null | null | null | null | null | Are there circumscribed places in the universe that are intended for the punishments and pleasures of spirits according to their merits? | We have already responded to this question. Punishments and joys are inherent to the degree of a spirit’s perfection. Each spirit carries within itself the source of its own happiness or unhappiness, and since spirits are everywhere, there is no circumscribed or enclosed place for one or the other. As for incarnate spi... | null |
1013 | null | null | null | null | null | What is to be understood by | purgatory Physical and mental suffering; it is a period of expiation. It is almost always on the earth that you make your own purgatory, and that is where God enables you to expiate your wrongs. | null |
1014 | null | null | null | null | null | How do you explain the fact that spirits who are known to be Future Joys and Sorrows highly evolved because of the language they use have given to serious individuals answers on hell and purgatory that are in line with commonly accepted ideas? | They speak a language that can be understood by the individuals who question them. When such individuals are highly imbued with certain ideas, these spirits do not want to shock them too suddenly in order not to harm their convictions. If a spirit were to forget about verbal precautions and to say to a Muslim that Moha... | null |
1015 | null | null | null | null | null | What should be understood by a tormented soul? | An errant and suffering soul, uncertain about its future, and to whom you can provide the solace it frequently begs for when it comes to communicate with you. | null |
1016 | null | null | null | null | null | In what sense should the word heaven be understood? | Do you believe that it is a place like the Elysian Fields of the ancients, where all the good spirits are confusedly crowded together with no other concern than that of enjoying an eternity of passive bliss? No. It is universal space – the planets, the stars and all the highly evolved worlds on which spirits enjoy all ... | null |
1017 | null | null | null | null | null | Some spirits have said that they inhabit the fourth, the fifth heaven, etc. What is meant by this? | You asked them which heaven they inhabit because you have the idea of many superimposed heavens resembling the stories of a house; thus, they merely responded according to your own language. However, for them, the words fourth or fifth heaven express different degrees of purification, and consequently, of happiness. It... | null |
1018 | null | null | null | null | null | In what sense should we understand the words of Christ, | My kingdom is not of this world? Christ was responding figuratively. He wanted to say that he only reigned over pure and unselfish hearts. He is in every place where love and goodness rule; however, humans, greedy for the things of this world, are attached to the things of earth and not to him. | null |
1019 | null | null | null | null | null | Will the kingdom of the good ever be realized on earth? | The good will reign on earth when, among the spirits who come to inhabit it, the good outnumber the evil ones. They will then enable love and justice – the source of goodness and of happiness – to reign on earth. It is through moral progress and the practice of the laws of God that humans will attract good spirits to t... | null |
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