7

Necessity of social life. — Life of isolation. — Vow of silence. — Conditions of social improvement. — Character of human laws. (Questions 380 to 390 a.)

Is social life in Nature? [Question 766.]

“Certainly. God made man to live in society.”

God would not have given man speech and all the other faculties necessary for the life of relationship to no purpose. Social life is thus a law of Nature.

Is absolute isolation contrary to the law of Nature? [Question 767.]

“Yes, for men instinctively seek society, and all must contribute to progress by helping one another.”

a. In seeking society, does man do no more than obey a personal sentiment, or is there in that sentiment a providential aim of a more general order? [Question 768.]

“Man must progress. Alone, this is not possible for him, since he does not possess all the faculties; he lacks contact with other men. In isolation he grows dull and withers.”

No man possesses complete faculties. Through social union they complete one another mutually, so as to ensure their well-being and to progress. That is why, needing one another, men were made to live in society and not in isolation.

It is understandable that, as a general principle, social life should be in Nature. But since all tastes are also in Nature, why would the taste for absolute isolation be reprehensible, if man finds satisfaction in it? [Question 769.] “A selfish satisfaction. There are also men who find satisfaction in drunkenness. Do you approve of that? A life by which man condemns himself to be useful to no one cannot please God.”

What is to be thought of those who live in absolute seclusion, in order to flee the pernicious contact of the world? [Question 770.]

“Twofold selfishness.”

a. But would not such withdrawal be meritorious if it had as its aim an expiation, the one who seeks it imposing upon himself a painful privation? [Question 770 a.]

“The best expiation consists in doing a greater sum of good than of evil. In avoiding one evil, man falls into another, for he forgets the law of love and of charity.”

What is to be thought of those who flee the world in order to devote themselves to succoring the unfortunate? [Question 771.]

“These raise themselves by lowering themselves. They have the twofold merit of placing themselves above material pleasures and of doing good through the fulfillment of the law of labor.”

a. And of those who seek in withdrawal the tranquility that certain works demand? [Question 771 a.]

“That is not the absolute withdrawal of the selfish person. Such men do not isolate themselves from society, since they work for it.”

What is to be thought of the vow of silence prescribed by some sects, from the most remote antiquity? [Question 772.]

“Ask yourselves first whether speech is a natural faculty and why God granted it to man. God condemns the abuse and not the use of the faculties He bestowed upon him. Nevertheless, silence is useful, for in silence you withdraw into yourself, your spirit becomes freer and can enter into communication with us. But the vow of silence is a folly. Doubtless those who regard these voluntary privations as acts of virtue are well-intentioned. They are mistaken, however, for they do not sufficiently understand the true laws of God.” The vow of absolute silence, like the vow of isolation, deprives man of the social relationships that can afford him occasions to do good and to fulfill the law of progress.

Could society be governed solely by natural laws, without the concurrence of human laws? [Question 794.]

“It could, if all understood them well and were willing to practice them; then they would suffice. But society has its requirements and needs special laws.”

a. What is the cause of the imperfection of human laws? 122 [Question 795.]

“Selfishness and pride. In ages of barbarism, it was the strongest who made the laws, and they made them for themselves. However, in proportion as men came to understand justice better, it became necessary to modify them.” Civilization created new needs for man, and these needs are relative to the social position he occupies. It became necessary to regulate the rights and duties of that position, by means of human laws. But, influenced by the passions, man has often created imaginary rights and duties, which the natural law condemns and which peoples suppress from their codes as they progress.

Certainly, the instability of human laws is bound up with their imperfection. Will the time come when they will be less variable?

“Yes; that hour is not as far off as you think; man marches with the strides of a giant, through the progress made every day in ideas. Human laws will be more stable as they approach true justice, that is, when they are made for all, without distinction of sects, of classes, or of races.” [Question 795.]

a. You say that we march with the strides of a giant toward a more perfect state; yet the perversity of man is very great. Does it not seem that he is going in reverse, instead of advancing, at least from the moral point of view? “You are mistaken; observe the whole well and you will see that he advances, since he understands better what is evil, and with each passing day he goes on repressing abuses. Evil must reach excess in order to make comprehensible the necessity of good and of reforms.” [Question 784.]

In the present state of society, does not the severity of penal laws constitute a necessity? [Question 796.]

“A depraved society certainly needs more severe laws. Unfortunately, these laws do not attack the passions that constitute the root of evil. Only education will be able to reform men, who thus will no longer need such rigorous laws.”

By making the character harsh, does not unhappiness develop the evil instincts? “It develops some evil instincts, just as excess of pleasures develops others; but when man is happy, he doubtless concerns himself less with evil.”

a. Why, then, are men seen committing crimes, even though they lack nothing and have all the satisfactions of material life?

“The effect of bad education, which develops and maintains in them evil instincts, above all pride and selfishness. Moreover, we are speaking of Humanity in general: that is the rule; individuals are the exceptions.”

Does not the environment in which certain men find themselves placed constitute for them the principal source of many vices and crimes? [Question 644.]

“Yes, but even there is a trial that the Spirit chose, when at liberty. He wished to expose himself to temptation in order to have the merit of resistance.”

a. When man finds himself, in a certain manner, immersed in the atmosphere of vice, does not evil become for him an almost irresistible enticement? [Question 645.]

“An enticement, yes; irresistible, no; because even within that atmosphere of vice you can sometimes find great virtues. They are Spirits who had the strength to resist and who, at the same time, received the mission of exercising a good influence over their fellow men.” [122] T. N.: In the definitive 1860 edition, Kardec replaced the term “imperfection” with “instability,” which is more fitting and applies better to the context of the sentence.