Repentance

990. Does repentance take place in the corporeal state, or in the spiritual state?

Spirit: "In the spiritual state; but it may also take place in the corporeal state, when you clearly comprehend the difference between good and evil."
991. What is the consequence of repentance in the spiritual state?

Spirit: "The desire for a new incarnation, in order to become purified. The spirit perceives the imperfections which deprive him of happiness; and he therefore aspires after a new existence in which he will be able to expiate his faults." ([[|332]], [[|975]]).
992. What is the consequence of repentance in the corporeal state?

Spirit: "The spirit will advance even in his present life, if he have the time to repair his faults. Whenever your conscience reproaches you, or shows you an imperfection, you may always become better."
993. Are there not men who have only the instinct of evil, and are inaccessible to repentance?

Spirit: "I have told you that progress must be incessant. He who, in his present life, has only the instinct of evil, will have the instinct of goodness in another one, and it is to effect this end that he is re-born many times. For all must advance, all must reach the goal; but some do this more quickly, others more slowly, according to the energy of their desire. He who has only the instinct of good is already purified, for he may have had that of evil in an anterior existence." ([[|804]].)
994. Does the perverted spirit who has not recognised his faults during his life always recognise them after his death?

Spirit: "Yes; he always does so, and lie then suffers all the more, for he feels all the evil he has done, or of which he has been the voluntary cause. Nevertheless, repentance is not always immediate. There are spirits who obstinately persist in doing wrong, notwithstanding their sufferings; but, sooner or later, they will see that have taken the wrong road, and repentance will follow this discovery. It is to their enlightenment that the efforts of the higher spirits are directed, and that you may usefully direct your own."
995. Are there spirits who, without being wicked, ape indifferent about their own fate?

Spirit: "There are spirits who do not occupy themselves with anything useful, but are in a state of expectancy. In such cases they suffer in proportion to their inactivity; for all states and conditions must conduce to progress, and with them, this progress is effected by the suffering they experience."
Have they no desire to shorten their sufferings?
Spirit: "They have that desire, undoubtedly; but they have not sufficient energy to do what would give them relief. Are there not among you many who prefer to starve rather than to work?"
996. Since spirits see the harm that is done them by their imperfections, how is it that any of them Persist in aggravating their Position, and prolonging their state of inferiority, by doing evil, as spirits, in turning men aside from the right road?

Spirit: "It is those whose repentance is tardy that act thus. A spirit who repents may afterwards allow himself to be drawn back into the wrong road by other spirits still more backward than himself." ([[|971]].)
997. We sometimes find that spirits, who are evidently of very he who, urged on by pride, revolts against God, persisting in his touched by the prayers offered for them. How is it that others, whom we have reason to believe are more enlightened, show a hardness and a cynicism that no efforts can vanquish?

Spirit: "Prayer is only efficacious in the case of spirits who repent; he who, urged on by pride, revolts against God, persisting in his wrong-doing, and perhaps going even more widely astray, cannot be acted upon by prayer, and can only derive benefit therefrom when a glimmering of repentance shall have shown itself in him." ([[|664]].)
998. Is expiation accomplished in the corporeal state, or in the spirit-state?

Spirit: "Expiation is accomplished during the corporeal existence, through the trials to which the spirit is subjected; and, in the spirit-state, through the moral sufferings belonging to the spirit's state of inferiority."
999. Does sincere repentance during the earthly life suffice to efface the faults of that life, and to restore the wrong-doer to the favour of God?

Spirit: "Repentance helps forward the amelioration of the spirit, but all wrongdoing has to be expiated."
That being the case, if a criminal should say, "Since I must necessarily expiate my past, I have no need to repent," what effect would it have upon him?
Spirit: "If he harden himself in the thought of evil. his expiation will be longer and more painful."
1000. Can we, in the present life, redeem our faults?

Spirit: "Yes, by making reparation for them. But do not suppose that you can redeem them by a few trifling privations, or by giving, after your death, what you can no longer make use of. God does not value a sterile repentance, a mere smiting of the breast, easily done. The loss of a little finger in doing good to others effaces more wrong doing than any amount of self-torture undergone solely with a view to one's own interest. ([[|726]].)
"Evil can only be atoned for by good; and attempts at reparation are valueless if they touch neither a man's pride nor his worldly interests.
"How can his rehabilitation be subserved by the restitution of ill-gotten wealth after his death, when it has become useless to him, and when he has already profited by it?
"What benefit can he derive from the privation of a few futile enjoyments and of a few superfluities, if the wrong he has done to others is not undone?
"What, in truth, is the use of his humbling himself before God, if he keeps up his pride before men?" ([[|720]], [[|721]].)
1001. Is there no merit in ensuring the useful employment, after our death, of 'he property possessed by us?

Spirit: "To say that there is no merit so doing would not be correct; it is always better than doing nothing. But the misfortune is, that he who only gives after his death is often moved rather by selfishness than by generosity; he wishes to have the honour of doing good without its costing him anything. He who imposes privation upon himself during his life reaps a double profit�the merit of his sacrifice, and the pleasure of witnessing the happiness he has caused. But selfishness is apt to whisper, 'Whatever you give away is so much cut off from your own enjoyments;' and as the voice of selfishness is usually more persuasive than that of disinterestedness and charity, it too often leads a man to keep what he has, under pretext of the necessities of his position. He is to be pitied who knows not the pleasure of giving; for he is deprived of one of the purest and sweetest of enjoyments. In subjecting a man to the trial of wealth, so slippery, and so dangerous for his future, God placed within his reach, by way ofcompensation, the happiness which generosity may procure for him, even in his present life." ([[|814]].)
1002. What will become of him who, in the act of dying, acknowledges his wrong-doing, but has not time to make reparation? Does repentance suffice in such a case?

Spirit: "Repentance will hasten his rehabilitation, but it does not absolve him. Has he not the future, which will never be closed against him?"