"It is certainly a fatality, if you like to call it so, but it results from the choice of the kind of existence made by those persons in the spirit-state, because they desired to exercise their patience and resignation by a life of disappointment. But you must not suppose that this fatality is absolute, for it is often the consequence of a man's having taken a wrong path, one that is not adapted to his intelligence and aptitudes. He who tries to cross a river without knowing how to swim stands a very good chance of drowning; and the same may be said in regard to the greater part of the events of your life. If a man undertook only the things that are in harmony with his faculties, he would almost always succeed. What causes his failure is his conceit and ambition, which draw him out of his proper path, and make him mistake for a vocation what is only a desire to satisfy those passions. He fails, and through his own fault; but, instead of blaming himself, he prefers to accuse his 'star.' One who might have been a good workman, and earned his bread honourably in that capacity, prefers to make bad poetry, and dies of starvation. There would be a place for every one, if every one put himself in his right place."
863. Do not social habits often oblige a man to follow one road rather than another, and is not his choice of occupation often controlled by the opinion of those about him? Is not the sentiment which leads us to attach a certain amount of importance to the judgement of others an obstacle to the exercise of our free-will?
"Social habits are made, not by God, but by men; if men submit to them, it is because it suits them to do so, and their submission is therefore an act of their free-will, since, if they wished to enfranchise themselves from those habits, they could do so. Why, then, do they complain? It is not social habits that they should accuse, but their pride, which makes them prefer to starve rather than to derogate from what they consider to be their dignity. Nobody thanks them for this sacrifice to opinion, though God would take note of the sacrifice of their vanity. We do not mean to say that you should brave public opinion unnecessarily, like certain persons who possess more eccentricity than true philosophy: there is as much absurdity in causing yourself to be pointed at as an oddity, or stared at as a curious animal, as there is wisdom in THE SPIRITS’ BOOK descending, voluntarily and unmurmuringly, when you are unable to maintain yourself at the top of the social ladder."
864. If there are persons to whom fate is unpropitious, there are others who seem to be favoured by fortune, for they succeed in everything they undertake. To what is this to be attributed?
"In many cases, to their skilful management of their affairs; but it may also be a species of trial. People are often intoxicated by success; they put their trust in their destiny, and pay in the curl for their former successes by severe reverses, which greater prudence would have enabled them to avoid."
865. How can we account for the run of luck that sometimes favours people under circumstances with which neither the will nor the intelligence have anything to do; in games of hazard, for instance?
"Certain spirits have chosen beforehand certain sorts of pleasure, the luck that favours them is a temptation. He who wins as a man often loses as a spirit; such kick is a trial for his vanity and his cupidity."
866. The fatality which seems to shape our material destinies is, then, a result of our free will?
"You, yourself, have chosen your trial; the severer it is, and the better you bear it, the higher you do raise yourself. Those who pass their lives in the selfish enjoyment of plenty and of human happiness are cowardly spirits who remain stationary. Thus the number of those who are unfortunate is much greater, in your world, than of those who are fortunate, because spirits generally make choice of the trial that will be most useful to them. They see too clearly the futility of your grandeurs and your enjoyments. Besides, the most fortunate life is always more or less agitated, more or less troubled, if only by the absence of sorrow." (525 et seq.)
867. Whence conies the expressions "Born under a lucky star"?
"From an old superstition that connected the stars with the destiny of each human being-a figure that some people are silly enough to take for literal truth."
Foreknowledge. S68. Can the future be revealed to man?
"As a rule, the future is hidden from him; it is only in rare and exceptional cases that God permits it to be revealed.
ALLAN KARDEC S69. Why is the future hidden from man?
"If man knew the future, he would neglect the present, and would not act with the same freedom, because he would be swayed by the thought that, if such and such a thing is to happen, there is no need to occupy one's self about it; or else he would seek to prevent it. God has willed that it should not be thus, in order that each may concur in the accomplishment of the designs of Providence, even of those which he would desire to thwart; and thus you, yourselves, often prepare the way, without your knowing it, for the events that will occur in the course of your life."
870. Since it is useful that the future should be hidden, why does God sometimes permit it to be revealed?
"Because in such cases this foreknowledge, instead of hindering the accomplishment of the thing that is to be, will facilitate it, by inducing the person to whom it is revealed to act ina different way from that in which he would otherwise have acted. And, besides, it is often a trial. The prospect of an event may awaken thoughts more or less virtuous. If a man becomes aware, for instance, that he will succeed to an inheritance which he had not expected, he may be tempted by a feeling of cupidity, by elation at the prospect of adding to his earthly pleasures, by a desire for the death of him to whose fortune he will succeed, in order that he may obtain possession of it more speedily; or, on the other hand, this prospect may awaken in him only good and generous thoughts. If the prediction be not fulfilled, it is another trial, viz., that of the way in which he will bear the disappointment; but he will none the less have acquired the merit or the blame of the good or bad thoughts awakened in him by his expectation of the event predicted."
871. Since God knows everything, He knows whether a ‘nun will or will not fail in a given trial; where then is the use of this trial, since it can show God nothing that He does not already know in regard to that man?
"You might as well ask why God did not create man accomplished, perfect (119); or why man has to pass through childhood before arriving at adult age (379). The aim of trial is not to enlighten God in regard to man's deserts, for God knows exactly what they are, but to leave to man the entire responsibility of his conduct, since he is free to do or not to do. Man having fret choice between good and evil, trial serves to bring him under the THE SPIRITS' LOOK action of temptation, and thus to give him the merit of resistance, for God, though knowing beforehand whether he will triumph or succumb, cannot, being just, either reward or punish him other wise than according to the deeds he has done." (258.)
The same principle is practically admitted among men. Whatever may be the qualifications of a candidate for any distinction, whatever may be our confidence of his success, no grade can be conferred on him without his having undergone the prescribed examination-that is to say, without his desert having been tested by trial, just as a judge only condemns the accused for the crime he has actually committed, and not on the presumption that he could or would commit such crime.
The more we reflect on the consequences that would result from our knowledge of the future, the more clearly do we see the wisdom of Providence in hiding it from us. The certainty of our future good fortune would render us inactive that of coming misfortune would plunge us in discouragement in both cases our activities would be paralysed. For this reason, the future is only shown to man as end which he is to attain through his own efforts, but without knowing the sequence of events through which he will pass in attaining it. The foreknowledge of all the incidents of his journey would deprive him of his initiative and of the use of his freewill; he would let himself be drawn, passively, by the force of events, down the slope of circumstances, without any exercise of his faculties. When the success of a matter Is certain, we no longer busy ourselves about it.
Theoretic Summary of the Springs of Human Action.
&72. The question of free-will may be thus summed up: Man is not fatally led into evil; the acts he accomplishes are not written down beforehand; the crimes he commits are not the result of any decree of destiny. He may have chosen, as trial and as expiation, an existence in which, through the surroundings amidst which he is placed, or the circumstances that supervene, he will be tempted to do wrong; but he always remains free to do or not to do. Thus a spirit exercises free-will, in the spirit-life, by choosing his next existence and the kind of trials to which it will subject him, and, in the corporeal life, by using his power of yielding to, or resisting, the temptations to which he has voluntarily subjected himself. The duty of education is to combat the evil tendencies brought by the spirit into his new existence duty which it will only be able to thoroughly fulfil when it shall be based on a deeper and truer knowledge of man's moral nature. Through knowledge of the laws of this department of his nature education will be able to modify it, as it already modifies his intelligence by instruction, and his temperament by hygiene. Each spirit, when freed from matter, and in the state of erraticity, chooses his future corporeal existences according to the degree of purification to which he has already attained; and it is in the power of making this choice, as we have previously pointed out, that his free-will principally consists This free-will is not annulled by incarnation, ALLAN KARDEC for, if the incarnated spirit yields to the influence of matter, it is always to the very trials previously chosen by him that he succumbs, and he is always free to invoke the assistance of God and of good spirits to help him to surmount them. (337.)
Without free-will there would be for man neither guilt in doing wrong, nor merit in doing right-a principle so fully recognised in this life, that the world always apportions its blame or its praise of any deed to the intention-that is to say, to the will of the doer; and will is but another term for freedom. Man, therefore, could hot seek an excuse for his misdeeds in his organisation, without abdicating his reason and his condition as a human being, and assimilating himself to the condition of the brute. If he could do so in regard to what is wrong, he would have to do the same in regard to what is wrong, he would have to do the same in regard to what is right; but, whenever a man does what is right. he takes good care to claim the merit of his action, and never thinks of attributing that merit to his organs, which proves that he instinctively refuses to renounce, at the bidding of certain theory-builders, the most glorious privilege of his species, viz., freedom of thought.
Fatality, as commonly understood, supposes an anterior and irrevocable ordaining of all the events of human life, whatever their degree of importance. If such were the order of things, man would be a machine, without a will of his own. Of what use would his intelligence be to him, seeing that he would be invariably overruled in all his acts by the power of destiny? Such pre-ordination, if it took place, would be the destruction of all moral freedom; there would be no such thing as human responsibility, and consequently neither good nor evil, neither virtues nor crimes. God, being sovereignly just, could not chastise His creatures for faults which they had not the option of not committing, nor could He reward them for virtues which would constitute for them no merit. It would be, moreover, the negation of the law of progress; for, if man were thus dependent on fate, he would make no attempt to ameliorate his position, since his action would be both unnecessary and unavailing.
On the other hand, fatality is not a mere empty word; it really exists in regard to the position occupied by each man upon the earth and the part which he plays in it, as a consequence of the kind of existence previously made choice of by his spirit, as trial, expiation, or mission, for, in virtue of that choice, he is necessarily THE SPIRITS’ BOOK THE SPIRITS’ BOOK subjected to the vicissitudes of the existence he has chosen, and to all the tendencies, good or bad, inherent in it; but fatality ceases at this point, for it depends on his will to yield, or not to yield, to those tendencies. The details of events are subordinated to the circumstances to which man himself gives rise by his action, and in regard to which he may be influenced by the good or bad thoughts suggested to him by spirits. (459.)
There is a fatality, then, in the events which occur independently of our action, because they are the consequence of the choice of our existence made by our spirit in the other life; but there can be no fatality in the results of those events, because we are often able to modify their results by our own prudence. There is no fatality in regard to the acts of our moral life.
It is only in regard to his death that man is placed under the law of an absolute and inexorable fatality; for he can neither evade the decree which has fixed the term of his existence, nor avoid the kind of death which is destined to interrupt its course.!
According to the common belief, man derives all his instincts from himself; they proceed either from his physical organisation, for which he is not responsible, or from his own nature, which would furnish him with an equally valid excuse for his imperfections, as, if such were the case, he might justly plead that it is through no option of his own that he has been made what he is.
The doctrine of Spiritism is evidently more moral. It admits the plenitude of man's free-will, and, in telling him that, when he does wrong, he yields to an evil suggestion made by another spirit, it leaves him the entire responsibility of his wrong-doing, because it recognises his power of resisting that suggestion, which it is evidently more easy for him to do than it would be to fight against his own nature. Thus, according to spiritist doctrine, no temptation is irresistible. A man can always close his mental ear against the occult voice which addresses itself to his inner consciousness, just as he can close it against a human voice. He can always withdraw himself from the suggestions that would tempt him to evil, by exerting his will against the tempter; asking of God, at the same time, to give him the necessary strength, and calling on good spirits to help him in vanquishing the temptation.
This view of the exciting cause of human action is the natural consequence of the totality of the teaching now being given from 'In relation to suicide and its consequences,vide 957, and following commentaries.
ALLAN KARDEC the spirit-world. It is not only sublime in point of morality; it is also eminently fitted to enhance man's self-respect. For it shows him that he is as free to shake off the yoke of an oppressor, as lie is to close his house against unwelcome intrusion; that he is not a machine, set in motion by an impulsion independent of his will; that he is a reasoning being, with the power of listening to, weighing, and choosing freely between, two opposing counsels. Let us add that, while thus counselled, man is not deprived of the initiative of his action; what he does, he does of his own motion, because he is still a spirit, though incarnated in a corporeal envelope, and still preserves, as a man, the good and bad qualities he possessed as a spirit.
The faults we commit have their original source, therefore, in the imperfection of our own spirit, which has not yet acquired the moral excellence it will acquire in course of time, but which, nevertheless, is in full possession of its free-will. Corporeal life is permitted to us for the purpose of purging our spirit of its imperfections through the trials to which we are thus subjected; and it is precisely those imperfections that weaken us and render us accessible to the suggestions of other imperfect spirits, who take advantage of our weakness in trying to make us fail in the fulfilment of the task we have imposed upon ourselves. If we issue victorious from the struggle, our spirit attains a higher grade; if we fail, our spirit remains as it was, no better and no worse, but with the unsuccessful attempt to be made over again: a repetition of the same trial that may retard our advancement for a very long period. But, in proportion as we effect our improvement, our weakness diminishes and we give less and less handle to those who would tempt us to evil; and as our moral strength constantly increases, bad spirits cease at length to act upon us.
The totality of spirits, good and bad, constitute by their in-carnation the human race; and as our earth is one of the most backward worlds, more bad spirits than good ones are incarnated in it, and a general perversity is visible among mankind. Let us, then, do our utmost not to have to come back to it, but to merit admission into a world of higher degree; one of those happier worlds in which goodness reigns supreme, and in which we shall remember our sojourn in this lower world only as a period of exile.
CHAPTER XI X. THE LAW OF JUSTICE, OF LOVE, AND OF CHARITY 1. NATURAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE - 2. RIGHT OF PROPERTY; ROBBERY - 3. CHARITY;LOVE OF THE NEIGHBOUR - 4. MATERNAL AND FILIAL AFFECTION.
Natural Rights and Justice. 873. Is the sentiment of justice natural, or the result of acquired ideas?
"It is so natural that your feeling spontaneously revolts at the idea of an injustice. Moral progress undoubtedly develops this sentiment, but it does not create it. God has placed it in the heart of man, and for this reason you often find, among simple and primitive people, notions of justice more exact than those of others who are possessed of a larger amount of knowledge."
874. If justice be a law of nature, how is it that men understand it so differently, and that the same thing appears just to one, and unjust to another?
"It is because your passions often mingle with this sentiment and debase it, as they do with the greater part of the natural sentiments, causing you to see things from a false point of view.
875. How should justice be defined? "Justice consists in respect for the rights of others." - What determines those rights?
"Two things: human law and natural law. Men having made laws in harmony with their character and habits, those laws have established rights that have varied with the progress of enlightenment. Your laws, at this day, though still far from perfect, no longer consecrate what were considered as rights in the Middle Ages; those rights, which appear to you monstrous, appeared just and natural at that epoch. The rights established by men are not, therefore, always conformable with justice; moreover, they only regulate certain social relations, while in private life there are an ALLAN KARDEC immense number of acts that are submitted only to the tribunal of conscience."
&76. Independently of the right established by human law, what is the basis of justice according to natural law?
"Christ has told you: 'Do unto others whatsoever you would that others should do unto you.’ God has placed in the heart of man, as the true rule of all justice, the desire which each of you feels to see his own rights respected. When uncertain as to what he should do in regard to his fellow-creature in any given conjuncture, let each man ask himself what he would wish to have done to him-self under the same circumstances; God could not give him a safer guide than his own conscience.”
The true criterion of justice is, in fact, to desire for others what one would desire for one's self; not merely to desire for one's self what one would desire for others, which is not precisely the same thing. As it not natural to desire harm for one's self, we are sure, in taking our personal desires as the type of our conduct to wards our neighbours, never to desire anything but good for them. In ail ages and in all beliefs, man has always sought to enforce his personal rights; the sublime peculiarity of the Christian religion is its taking of personal right as the basis of the right of the neighbour.
877. Does the necessity of living in society impose any special obligations on mankind?
"Yes, and the first of these is to respect the rights of others; he who respects those rights will always be just. In your world, where so many neglect to practise the law of justice, you have recourse to reprisals, and this causes trouble and confusion in human society. Social life gives rights and imposes corresponding duties."
878. It is possible for a man to be under an illusion as to the extent of his rights; what is there that can show him their true limit?
"The limit of the right which he would recognise on the part of his neighbour towards himself under similar circumstances, and vice-versa."
- But if each attributes to himself the rights of his fellow-creatures, what becomes of subordination to superiors? Would not such a principle be anarchical and destructive of all power?
“Natural rights are the same for all men, from the smallest to the greatest; God has not fashioned some men from a finer clay than others, and all are equals in His sight. Natural rights are eternal; the rights which man has established perish with his institutions. But each man feels distinctly his strength or his weak- THE SPIRITS’ BOOK THE SPIRITS’ BOOK ness, and will always be conscious of a sort of deference towards him whose wisdom or virtue entitles him to respect. It is important to mention this, in order that those who think themselves superior may know what are the duties that will give them a right to deference. There will be no insubordination when authority shall be attributed only to superior wisdom."
879. What would be the character of the man who should practise justice in all its purity?
"He would be truly righteous, after the example of Jesus; for he would practise the love of the neighbour and charity, without which there can be no real justice."
Right of Property - Robbery. 880. Which is the first of all the natural rights of man?
"The right to live, and therefore no one has the right to take the life of his fellow-creature, or to do anything that may compromise his personal existence."
881. Does the right to live give to man the right to amass the means of living, in order that he may repose when no longer able to work?
"Yes but he should do this in concert with his family. like the bee, by honest labour, and not by amassing in solitary selfishness. Certain animals, even, set man an example of this kind of fore-sight."
882. Has man the right to defend what he has amassed by his labours?
"Has not God said, "Thou shalt not steal?' and did not Jesus say: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s?""
What a man has amassed by honest labour is a legitimate property that he has a right to defend for possession of the property which is the fruit of labour is a natural right as sacred as the right to labour or to live.
883. Is the desire to posses natural to man?
"Yes; but when it is simply for himself, and for his personal satisfaction, it is selfishness."
- But is not the desire to possess a legitimate one, since he who has enough to live upon is not a burden to others?
"Some men are insatiable and accumulate without benefit to any one, merely to satisfy their passions. Do you suppose that this can be pleasing to God? He, on the contrary, who amasses through his labour, in order to have the means of assisting his ALLAN KARDEC fellow-creatures, practises the law of love and of charity, and his labour receives the blessing of God."
884. What is the characteristic of legitimate property? "No property is legitimate unless acquired without injury to others." (808.)
The law of love and of justice, forbidding us to do to others what we would not that others should do to us, implicitly condemns every means of acquiring which would be contrary to that law.
885. Is the right of property unlimited?
"Everything that has been legitimately acquired is undoubtedly a property; but, as we have said, human legislation, being imperfect, frequently sets up conventional rights opposed to natural justice. For this reason, men reform their laws in proportion as progress is accomplished, and as they obtain a better notion of justice. What appears right in one century appears barbarous in another." (795).
Charity and Love of the Neighbour. 886. What is the true meaning of the word charity as employed by Jesus?
"Benevolence for every one, indulgence for the imperfections of others, forgiveness of injuries."
Love and charity are the complement of the law of justice; for, to love our neighbour is to do him all the, good in our power, all that we should wish to have done to ourselves.
Charity, according to Jesus, is not restricted to alms-giving, but embraces all our relations with our fellow-men whether our inferiors, our equals, or our superiors. It prescribes indulgence on our part, because we need the same ourselves; it forbids us to humiliate the unfortunate, as is too often done. How many, who are ready to lavish respect and attentions on the rich, appear to think it not worth their while to be civil to the poor; and yet, the more pitiable the situation of the latter, the more scrupulously should we refrain from adding humiliation to misfortune. He who is really kind endeavours to raise his inferior in his own estimation, by diminishing the distance between them.
887. Jesus has also said: Love your enemies. But would it not be contrary to our natural tendencies to love our enemies, and does not unfriendliness proceed from a want of sympathy between spirits?
"It would certainly be impossible for a man to feel tender and ardent affection for his enemies; and Jesus did not intend to prescribe anything of the kind. To ‘love your enemies’ means to forgive them, and to return good for evil. By so doing, you become their superior; by vengeance, you place yourselves beneath them."
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK S888. What is to be thought of alms-giving?
"To be reduced to beg degrades a man morally as well as physically; it brutifies him. In a state of society based on the law of God and justice, provision would be made for assisting the weak without humiliating. them; the means of living would be insured to all who are unable to work, so as not to leave their life at the mercy of chance and of individual good-will."
- Do you blame alms-giving?
"No; it is not the giving of alms that is reprehensible, but the way in which it is too often done. He who comprehends charity as inculcated by Jesus seeks out the needy, without waiting for the latter to hold out his hand."
"True charity is always gentle as well as benevolent, for it consists as much in the manner of doing a kindness as in the deed itself. A service, if delicately rendered, has a double value; but if rendered with haughtiness, though want may compel its acceptance, the recipient's heart is not touched by it.
"Remember, also, that ostentation destroys, in the sight of God, the merit of beneficence. Jesus has said: 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does;' teaching you, by this injunction, not to tarnish charity by pride and vanity."
"You must distinguish between alms-giving, properly so-called, and beneficence. The most necessitous is not always he who begs by the wayside. Many, who are really poor, are restrained from begging by the dread of humiliation, and suffer silently and in secret: he who is really humane seeks out this hidden misery, and relieves it without ostentation.
"Love one another;' such is the divine law by which God governs all the worlds of the universe. Love is the law of attraction for living and organised beings; attraction is the law of love for inorganic matter."
"Never lose sight of the fact, that every spirit, whatever his degree of advancement, or his situation in reincarnation or in erraticity, is always placed between a superior who guides and improves him, and an inferior towards whom he has the same duties to fulfil. Be therefore charitable; not merely by the cold bestowal of a coin on the mendicant who ventures to beg it of you, but by seeking out the poverty that hides itself from view. Be indulgent for the defects of those about you; instead of despising the ignorant and the vicious, instruct them, and make them better; be gentle and benevolent to your inferiors; he the same for the ALLAN KARDEC ALLAN KARDEC humblest creatures of the lower reigns; and you will have obeyed the law of God." SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL S89. Are there not men who are reduced to beggary through their own fault?
"Undoubtedly there are; but if a sound moral education hadtaught them to practise the law of God, they would not have fallen into the excesses which have caused their ruin. It is mainly through the generalisation of such education that the improvement of your globe will be ultimately accomplished." (707.)
Maternal and Filial Affection 890. Is maternal affection a virtue, or is it an instinctive feeling common to men and to animals?
"It is both. Nature has endowed the mother with the love of her offspring in order to ensure their preservation. Among the animals, maternal affection is limited to the supply of their material needs; it ceases when this care is no longer needed. In the human race, it lasts throughout life, and assumes a character of unselfish devotion that raises it to the rank of a virtue; it even survives death, and follows the career of the child from beyond the grave. You see, therefore, that there is in this affection, as it exists in man, something more than as it exists among the animals." (205-385.)
891. Since maternal affection is a natural sentiment, why is it that mothers often hate their children, and even, in some cases, before their birth?
"The absence of maternal affection is sometimes a trial chosen by the spirit of the child, or an expiation for him if he have been a bad father, a bad mother, or a bad son, in some previous existence. In all cases, a bad mother can only be the incarnation of a bad spirit, who seeks to throw obstacles in the path of the child, in order to make him succumb in the trial he has chosen. But such a violation of the laws of nature will not remain unpunished, and the spirit of the child will be rewarded for surmounting the obstacles thus thrown in his way."
892. When parents have children who cause them sorrow, are they not excusable for not feeling for them the same tenderness they would have felt had their conduct been different?
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK "No; for the training of their children is a task that has been confided to them, and their mission is to make every possible effort to bring them back into the right road. (582, 583). Besides, the sorrows of parents are often the consequence of the bad habits they have allowed their children to contract from the cradle; a reaping of the evil harvest of which they themselves have sown the seeds.”
CHAPTER XII MORAL PERFECTION 1. VIRTUES AND VICES - 2. THE PASSION - 3. SELFISHNESS - 4.CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VIRTUOUS MAN - SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Virtues and Vices. 893. Which is the most meritorious of all the virtues?
"All virtues are meritorious, for all of them are signs of progress on the upward road. There is virtue in every act of voluntary resistance to the seductive influence of evil tendencies; but the sublimity of virtue consists in the sacrifice of self-interest to the good of others. The highest of all virtues is that which takes the form of the widest and most disinterested kindness."
894. There are persons who do good from a spontaneous impulse, without having to overcome any opposite feeling; is there as much merit in their action as in that of others who, in doing good, have to struggle with their own nature, and to surmount an opposing impulse?
"Those who have no longer to struggle against selfishness are those who have already accomplished a certain amount of progress. They have struggled and triumphed in the past, and their generosity, therefore, no longer costs them any effort. To do good seems to them to be perfectly natural, because they have acquired the habit of kindness. They should be honoured as veterans, who have won their grades on the field of battle.
"As you are still far from perfection, such persons strike you with astonishment, because their action contrasts so strongly with that of the rest of mankind, and you admire it in proportion to its rarity; hut you must know that what is the exception in your world is the rule in worlds of more advanced degree. In those worlds goodness is everywhere spontaneous, because they are inhabited only by good spirits, among whom even an evil intention would be considered as an exceptional monstrosity. It is this THE SPIRITS’ BOOK general prevalence of goodness that constitutes the happiness of those worlds; it will be the same in your earth when the human race shall have been transformed, and shall rightly comprehend and practise the law of charity."
895. Besides the defects and vices in regard to which no one can be mistaken, what is the most characteristic sign of imperfection?
"Selfishness. Virtuous appearances are too often like gilding upon copper, that cannot stand the application of the touchstone. A man may possess good qualities which make him pass in the eyes of the world for virtuous, but those qualities, though proving him to have made a certain amount of progress, may not be capable of standing trial, and the slightest disturbance of his self-love may suffice to show his real character. Absolute disinterestedness is indeed so rare a thing in your earth, that you may well regard it with wonder, as something phenomenal.