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Why does man have, instinctively, a horror of nothingness? [Question 958.]

“Because nothingness does not exist.”

The idea of nothingness has something in it that is repugnant to reason. However carefree man may be in this life, when the supreme moment arrives he asks himself what is to become of him, and involuntarily he hopes.

Whence comes to man the instinctive feeling of a future life? [Question 959.]

“We have already said it: before incarnating, the Spirit knows all these things, and the soul retains a vague remembrance of what it knows and of what it saw in the spiritual state.”

To believe in God without admitting a future life would be a contradiction. The feeling of a better life resides in the innermost being of all men, and it is not possible that God placed it there uselessly.

The future life implies the preservation of our individuality after death. If everything ended for us on Earth, or if there operated within us only a transformation that left us no consciousness of past acts, there would be neither real good nor real evil, nor any need to curb our passions; morality would be an empty word; man would have for his only motive the satisfaction of his desires, with no scruple about the harm he might cause his fellow beings. The consequence of the future life follows from the responsibility for our acts. Reason and justice tell us that, in the sharing of the happiness to which all aspire, the good and the wicked cannot be confounded together. It is not possible that God should wish some to enjoy, without labor, goods that others attain only with effort and perseverance.

What is the origin of the belief in future penalties and rewards, which is found among all peoples? [Question 960.]

“It is always the same thing: a presentiment of reality, brought to man by the Spirit incarnated within him. For, know well, it is not in vain that an inner voice speaks to you, and your error consists in not listening to it with sufficient attention. If you thought well upon this, and more often, you would become better.”

Which feeling dominates the majority of men at the moment of death: doubt, fear, or hope? [Question 961.]

“Doubt, in hardened skeptics; fear, in the guilty; hope, in men of good will.”

a. Why do skeptics exist, since the soul brings to man the feeling of spiritual things? [Question 962.]

“They are far fewer in number than you suppose. Many pose as strong minds during life, solely out of pride; but at the moment of death they cease to be such braggarts.”

The idea that God gives us of His justice and of His goodness, through the wisdom of His laws, does not permit us to believe that the just and the wicked are in the same category in His eyes, nor to doubt that they will receive, one day, the one a reward, the other a punishment, for the good or the evil they have done.

Does God concern Himself with each man individually? Is He not too great and we too small for each particular creature to have, in His eyes, any importance? [Question 963.]

“God concerns Himself with all the beings He created, however small they may be. Nothing is too small for His goodness.”

a. But is it necessary that God concern Himself with each of our acts, in order to reward or punish us? Are not these acts, for the most part, insignificant to Him? [Question 964.]

“God has His laws, which regulate all your actions. If you violate them, the fault is yours. Without doubt, when a man commits some excess, God does not pronounce a sentence against him, saying to him, for example: You have been gluttonous, I am going to punish you. He has drawn a limit: illnesses and often death are the consequence of excesses. There is the punishment; it results from the infraction of the law, as, indeed, happens in everything.” All our actions are subject to the laws of God. There is no act, however insignificant it may seem to us, that may not be a transgression of those laws. If we suffer the consequences of that transgression, we have only ourselves to complain of, who thus become the artisans of our future happiness or unhappiness.” (Note 16.) 131

Have the penalties and enjoyments after death anything material, or are they of a purely spiritual nature? [Question 965.]

“Good sense tells us they cannot be material, since the soul is not matter.”

a. Why, in general, does man form such gross and absurd ideas of the penalties and enjoyments of the future life? [Question 966.]

“An intelligence that has not yet developed sufficiently. Does the child understand in the same way as the adult? Moreover, this depends also on what was taught him: it is there that there is need of a reform.

“Your language is too incomplete to express what is outside of you. It was necessary, then, to resort to comparisons, and you took these images and figures for reality itself. Nevertheless, as man enlightens himself, he comes to understand better the things that his language cannot express.”

The idea that men form of the penalties and enjoyments of the soul after death will be more or less elevated according to the state of their intelligence. The more it develops, the more this idea is purified and freed from matter; man understands things from a more rational point of view, ceasing to take literally the images of a figurative language. Teaching us that the soul is a wholly spiritual being, reason, being more enlightened, tells us, for that very reason, that it cannot be affected by the impressions that act only upon matter, which does not mean that it is exempt from sufferings, nor that it does not receive the punishment of its faults.

Do Spirits merely understand infinite happiness, or do they begin to experience it?

“They experience happiness or misfortune, according to the position they occupy.”

The penalties and enjoyments of Spirits are inherent in the state of perfection they have reached. They are more or less happy according to the degree of purification they have undergone in the trials of corporeal life, in which the soul is purified by the practice of the Law of God.

Man being able to hasten or retard this perfection according to his will, these penalties and enjoyments constitute the punishment of his negligence or the reward of his efforts to attain it. It was for this that Jesus said that each one would be rewarded according to his works.

Becoming a Spirit after death, does man always recognize his faults?

“Yes, for the wandering spirit there are no longer any veils; it is as though it had come out of a fog and saw what keeps it away from happiness. Then it suffers even more, because it understands how guilty it was. For it there is no longer any illusion: it sees things in their reality.” [Question 975.]

In erraticity the Spirit discerns, on one side, all its past existences and, on the other, the future that is promised to it, understanding what it lacks in order to attain it. It is like the traveler who, on reaching the summit of a mountain, sees the road he has traversed and the road that remains for him to traverse in order to arrive at his destination.

Does not the sight of suffering Spirits constitute, for the good ones, a cause of affliction? In that case, what becomes of their happiness, thus disturbed? [Question 976.]

“This does not constitute a cause of affliction, for they know that the evil will have an end. They help the others to improve themselves and extend their hands to them: that is their occupation, and it becomes a pleasure to them when they succeed.”

Do all Spirits see God? [Question 244.]

“All see the infinite, but only perfect Spirits can approach God.”

a. What prevents imperfect Spirits from approaching God?

“Their impurity.”

Do inferior Spirits understand the happiness of the just? [Question 975.]

“Yes, and this is a torment to them, because they understand that they are deprived of it through their own fault. That is why the Spirit, freed from matter, aspires to a new corporeal existence, for each existence, if it is well employed, can shorten the duration of that torment. It is then that it chooses trials by means of which it may expiate its faults. For, know it well, the Spirit suffers for all the evil it has done, or of which it was the voluntary cause, for all the good it could have done and did not do, and for all the evil that results from not having done the good.”

Since Spirits cannot conceal their thoughts from one another, and since all the acts of life are known, must one conclude that the guilty one is perpetually in the presence of his victim? [Question 977.]

“Good sense tells us it cannot be otherwise.”

a. Will not this disclosure of all our reprehensible acts and the constant presence of those who were the victims of such acts be a punishment for the guilty? [Question 977 a.]

“Greater than is supposed, but only until the guilty one has expiated his faults. If man knew how much it costs to do evil!”

When we find ourselves in the world of Spirits, all our past being laid bare, the good and the evil we have done will be equally known. In vain will he who has done evil try to escape the gaze of his victims: their inevitable presence will be a punishment to him and an unceasing remorse, until he has expiated his errors, whereas the man of good will find everywhere only friendly and benevolent looks. For the wicked one, there is no greater torment on Earth than the presence of his victims, which is why he ceaselessly avoids them. What will become of him when the illusion of the passions is dissipated and he understands the evil he has done, seeing his most secret acts revealed, his hypocrisy unmasked, and being unable to withdraw himself from the sight of them? While the soul of the perverse man is a prey to shame, regret, and remorse, that of the just enjoys perfect serenity.

On leaving its mortal remains, does the soul immediately see the relatives and friends who preceded it in the world of Spirits? [Question 286.]

“Immediately is not always the proper term. As we have already said, it needs some time to recognize itself and to free itself from the material veil. Often, too, relatives and friends come to meet it to congratulate it, which constitutes a reward for it.”

a. Is the duration of this first moment of disturbance that follows death the same for all Spirits?

“No; it depends on the elevation of each one. He who is already purified recognizes himself almost immediately, for he has already freed himself from matter during the life of the body, whereas the carnal man, the one whose conscience is not pure, retains for much longer the impression of matter.” [Question 164.]

Does the remembrance of the faults the soul committed, when it was imperfect, not disturb its happiness, even after it has purified itself? [Question 978.]

“No, because it has redeemed its faults and emerged victorious from the trials to which it submitted itself for that purpose.”

a. Will not the trials the soul still has to undergo in order to complete its purification be a cause of painful apprehension for it, which disturbs its happiness? [Question 979.]

“For the soul still stained, yes. That is why it cannot enjoy perfect happiness except when it is completely pure. But, for the soul that has already elevated itself, there is nothing painful in thinking of the trials it still has to undergo.”

The soul that has reached a certain degree of purity already experiences happiness. A feeling of sweet satisfaction pervades it. It feels happy for all that it sees, for all that surrounds it. The veil that concealed the mysteries and marvels of Creation is lifted for it, and the divine perfections appear to it in all their splendor.

Does the bond of sympathy that unites Spirits of the same order constitute for them a source of happiness? [Question 980.]

“Yes; the union of Spirits committed to the good is, for them, one of the greatest pleasures, because they do not fear seeing that union disturbed by selfishness.”

On Earth, man enjoys the first fruits of that happiness when he meets souls with whom he can merge in a pure and holy union. In a more purified life, that pleasure will be ineffable and unlimited, for there he will meet only sympathetic souls, which selfishness does not chill. All is love in Nature: it is selfishness that kills it.

Does not the Spirit who expiates his faults in a new existence experience material sufferings? Is it then accurate to say that, after death, there are for the soul only moral sufferings? [Question 983.]

“It is quite true that, when the soul is reincarnated, the tribulations of life represent a suffering for it; but only the body suffers materially.

“Often, speaking of someone who has died, you are accustomed to say that he will suffer no more. This does not always express the reality. As a Spirit, he is exempt from physical pains; but, depending on the faults he has committed, he may be subject to keener moral pains; he may even come to be still more unhappy in a new existence. The wicked rich man will beg for alms and will be subject to all the privations of poverty; the proud man, to all humiliations; he who abuses his authority and treats his subordinates with contempt and cruelty will see himself forced to obey a master harsher than he himself was. All the penalties and tribulations of life are the expiation of faults of another existence, when they do not result from faults of the present life. As soon as you have departed from here, you will understand this.” The man who considers himself happy on Earth because he can satisfy his passions is the one who employs the least effort to improve himself. If he often begins to expiate these ephemeral pleasures even in this life, he will certainly expiate them in another existence as material as that one.

Is the reincarnation of the soul in a less gross world a reward? [Question 985.]

“It is the consequence of its purification, inasmuch as, as they purify themselves, Spirits come to incarnate in worlds ever more perfect, until they have wholly divested themselves of matter and washed themselves of all impurities, in order then to enjoy eternally the happiness of pure Spirits in the bosom of God.” In the worlds where existence is less material than on Earth, the needs are less gross and the physical sufferings less intense. There men no longer know the evil passions that, in the inferior worlds, make them enemies of one another. Having no motive of hatred nor of jealousy, they live in peace, because they practice the law of justice, love, and charity. They do not know the vexations and cares arising from envy, pride, and selfishness, the causes of the torment of our terrestrial existence.

Can the Spirit who has progressed in his terrestrial existence reincarnate sometimes in the same world? [Question 986.]

“Yes, provided he has not succeeded in completing his mission, he himself may ask to complete it in a new existence. But then it will no longer constitute an expiation for him.”

a. In such a case, will he have to suffer the same vicissitudes?

“No; the less he has to reproach himself for, the less he will have to expiate.”

What happens to the man who, although not doing evil, also does nothing to free himself from the influence of matter? [Question 987.]

“Since he takes no step toward perfection, he has to begin again an existence of the same nature as the preceding one. He remains stationary, thus possibly prolonging the sufferings of expiation.”

There are persons whose life passes in perfect calm; who, needing to do nothing for themselves, are free of cares. Is this happy existence a proof that they have nothing to expiate from a previous existence? [Question 988.]

“Do you know many such persons? If you believe so, you are mistaken. Often the calm is only apparent. They may have chosen that existence, but, when they leave it, they perceive that it did not serve them to progress. Then, like the idler, they lament the time lost. Know that the Spirit cannot acquire knowledge and elevate itself except through activity. If it slumbers in indolence, it does not advance. It resembles the one who (according to your customs) needs to work and goes off to stroll or to lie down, with the intention of doing nothing.”

Will there be in the Universe circumscribed places for the penalties and enjoyments of Spirits, according to their merit? [Question 1012.]

“We have already answered this question. The penalties and the enjoyments are inherent in the degree of perfection of the Spirits. Each one draws from within itself the principle of its happiness or of its misfortune. And since they are everywhere, there exists no circumscribed or enclosed place specially destined for some or for others. As for incarnate Spirits, these are more or less happy or unhappy according as the world they inhabit is more or less advanced.”

According to this, do hell and paradise not exist, such as man imagines them? [Question 1012 a.]

“They are mere allegories: everywhere there are happy and unhappy Spirits. However, as we have also already said, Spirits of the same order gather together by sympathy; but, when they are perfect, they can gather wherever they wish.”

The absolute localization of the regions of penalties and rewards exists only in the imagination of man. It comes from his tendency to materialize and circumscribe things whose infinite essence he is incapable of understanding.

Whence comes the doctrine of eternal fire? [Question 974.]

“An image taken for reality, like so many others. It is exactly as when one frightens little children with the bogeyman.”

a. But will not the fear of that fire produce a good result? [Question 974 a.]

“See whether it serves as a curb, even among those who teach it. If you taught only things that reason would not later reject, you would produce a durable and salutary impression.”

b. Will not the remorse of faults and the pleasure of good actions give us a just idea of the penalties and enjoyments of the spiritual life?

“Yes, but the penalties and joys you experience are always mingled with your terrestrial life.”

Incapable of expressing, by his language, the nature of those sufferings, man found no more forceful comparison than that of fire, because, for him, fire symbolizes the most cruel kind of torture, of the most violent action. That is why the belief in eternal fire goes back to the highest antiquity, the modern peoples having inherited it from the most ancient ones. It is for the same reason that one says, in figurative language: the fire of the passions; to burn with love, with jealousy, etc. [Question 974 a.]

What is to be understood by purgatory? [Question 1013.]

“Physical and moral pains: the time of expiation. It is almost always on Earth that you make your purgatory and that God obliges you to expiate your faults.”

What man calls purgatory is likewise an allegory, by which one must understand not a determined place, but the state of the imperfect Spirits who are in expiation until they attain complete purification, which will raise them to the category of the blessed Spirits. This purification being effected by means of the various incarnations, purgatory consists in the trials of corporeal life.

Will the prayers addressed to God on behalf of the souls in expiation be useful?

“It depends on the intention. As we have already said, trivial prayers are words empty of meaning. For a prayer to be heard, it must proceed from a heart deeply imbued with what it says; in this case, it is a communication of your Spirit with the other Spirits. Unite yourselves with them with a view to seconding their efforts to support the incarnate Spirits in the trials they have to suffer.”

a. Since it is the Spirits who act directly, to whom should one preferably pray, to God or to the Spirits?

“The Spirits hear the prayers made to God and fulfill His orders. We are His ministers.”

b. Why, when we pray with fervor, do we feel relieved?

“Because a Spirit comes to help the one who prays with fervor, and it is that assistance which gives him strength and confidence.”

Since all Spirits must attain perfection, does it follow that there are no eternal penalties?

“We have already said that only the good is eternal and that evil will have an end. Nevertheless, until the Spirit acquires all the knowledge it must possess and passes through all the necessary trials, on Earth or in other similar worlds, the road it must traverse in order to purify itself completely is sometimes very long; for you, it is as though it were an eternity.”

How is it to be explained that Spirits, whose superiority is revealed by their language, have answered very serious persons, concerning hell and purgatory, according to the idea we commonly form of them? [Question 1014.]

“As we have already told you, it is necessary that we make ourselves intelligible, and for this we make use of your terms, which leads you to believe that we sometimes yield to your prejudices. Besides, it is not fitting to shock prejudices so abruptly, because that would be the way of not being heard. That is the reason why Spirits sometimes speak in accordance with the opinion of those who listen to them, so as to lead them little by little to the truth. They thus adapt their language to their interlocutors, as you yourself do if you are a somewhat skillful orator; they will not, therefore, speak to a Chinese or a Mohammedan as they would to a Frenchman or a Christian, for they would be very ill received.

Some Spirits, then, used the terms hell, purgatory, and other similar ones, when they addressed persons imbued with such ideas, without thereby contradicting themselves. It is also frequent that we use the terms hell and purgatory in our answers, when inconvenient and lengthy means of communication are employed, as happens with talking tables, etc., which weary us; then, being unable to develop our thought, we answer yes or no, when that fact is of no great importance and when it does not distort the true meaning of our teachings.”

a. One understands that Spirits who wish to instruct us should proceed thus. How, however, is it to be explained that some Spirits, when questioned about their situation, have answered that they were suffering the tortures of hell or of purgatory? [Question 1014 a.]

“When they are inferior and not yet completely dematerialized, Spirits retain in part their earthly ideas and, in order to give their impressions, make use of the terms that are familiar to them. Hell may be translated as a life of extremely painful privations, with the uncertainty of there being another better one; purgatory, as a life also of privations, but with the consciousness of a better future. When you feel a great pain, do you not say that you suffer like one of the damned? All this is nothing but words, and always said in a figurative sense.”

Some Spirits have said that they were inhabiting the fourth, the fifth heaven, etc. What did they mean by this? [Question 1017.]

“If you ask them which heaven they inhabit, it is because you form the idea of many heavens superimposed, like the stories of a house; they, then, answer you in accordance with your language. But, for them, the words fourth and fifth heaven express different degrees of purification and, consequently, of happiness. It is exactly as when one asks a Spirit whether it is in hell. If it is unhappy, it will say yes, because hell, for it, is synonymous with suffering; but it knows perfectly well that it is not a matter of a furnace. A pagan would say he was in Tartarus or in the Elysian Fields.” THE END [131] Translator's note: This Note was left open in the original edition. By the subject treated, it corresponds to that numbered XV, developed on page 358. [Note: In the text it was referred to as no. XVI, for the Codifier, so that there should be no doubt regarding the question treated, placed in parentheses, following the number of the note, the number of the question to which it refers; and there it reads: Note XVI. — (No. 478)] [132] Translator's note: Here, the part in italics has a more generic connotation, being, therefore, more easily assimilable by the followers of Muhammad, in comparison with the corresponding text of question 1014 of the definitive 1860 edition, owing to the false speculations to which this latter could give rise among the Muslims of the Middle East, of North Africa, and of Southeast Asia, hindering, in a certain way, the penetration and the acceptance of the Spiritist Doctrine in vast regions of the Old World (italics ours).