MORAL PERFECTION.

Virtues and vices.

— 2. On the passions. — 3. On egoism. — 4. Characteristics of the man of good. — 5. Knowledge of oneself.

Virtues and vices.

Which is the most meritorious of all the virtues?

“Every virtue has its own merit, because all of them indicate progress along the path of good.

There is virtue whenever there is voluntary resistance to the pull of evil inclinations.

The sublimity of virtue, however, lies in the sacrifice of personal interest for the good of one's neighbor, without any hidden thought.

The most meritorious is that which rests upon the most disinterested charity.”

There are persons who do good spontaneously, without needing to overcome any feelings opposed to it. Do they have as much merit as those who find themselves obliged to struggle against their own nature and who overcome it?

“Only those in whom progress has already been accomplished have no need to struggle. They struggled in former times and triumphed. That is why good feelings cost them no effort, and their actions seem to them most simple. Good has become a habit for them. They are owed the honors customarily paid to old warriors who won their high ranks.

“Since you are still far from perfection, such examples astonish you by their contrast with what you have before your eyes, and you admire them all the more the rarer they are. Know, however, that in worlds more advanced than yours, what among you represents the exception constitutes the rule. At all points of those worlds, the feeling of good is spontaneous, because only good Spirits inhabit them.

There, a single malevolent intention would be a monstrous exception. That is why men there are happy. The same will come to pass on Earth, when Humanity shall have been transformed, when it shall understand and practice charity in its true meaning.”

Setting aside the defects and vices about which no one can be mistaken, what is the most characteristic sign of imperfection?

“Personal interest. Frequently, moral qualities are like the gilding on a copper object, which does not withstand the touchstone. A man may possess real qualities that lead the world to regard him as a man of good. But these qualities, though they mark a progress, do not always endure certain trials, and sometimes it is enough to touch the chord of personal interest for the bottom to be laid bare.

True disinterestedness is still so rare a thing on Earth that, when it shows itself, everyone admires it as though it were a phenomenon.

“Attachment to material things constitutes a notorious sign of inferiority, because the more a man clings to the goods of this world, the less he understands his destiny. By disinterestedness, on the contrary, he demonstrates that he regards the future from a higher point.”

There are disinterested persons, but without discernment, who lavish their possessions to no real use, because they do not know how to put them to judicious employment. Do these persons have any merit?

“They have the merit of disinterestedness, but not that of the good they could do. Disinterestedness is a virtue, but thoughtless prodigality always constitutes, at the very least, a lack of judgment.

Wealth, just as it is not given to some to be locked away in a strongbox, is likewise not given to others to be scattered to the wind.

It represents a deposit for which both will have to render account, because they will have to answer for all the good they could have done and did not do, for all the tears they could have stanched with the money they gave to those who had no need of it.”

Does he deserve reproach who does good without aiming at any reward on Earth, but hoping that it will be taken into account in the other life and that his situation there will be better? And will this preoccupation harm his progress? “Good ought to be done charitably, that is, with disinterestedness.”

a — Yet everyone harbors the very natural desire to progress, in order to escape the painful condition of this life. The Spirits themselves teach us to practice good with that aim. Is it then an evil to think that, by practicing good, we may hope for something better than what we have on Earth? “No, certainly not; but he who does good without preconceived idea, for the sole pleasure of being agreeable to God and to his neighbor who suffers, already finds himself at a certain degree of progress, which will allow him to attain happiness much more quickly than his brother who, more positive, does good by calculation and not impelled by the natural ardor of his heart.”

b — Is there not here a distinction to be drawn between the good we can do to our neighbor and the care we take to correct ourselves of our defects? We conceive that it is of little merit to do good with the idea that it will be taken into account in the other life; but is it likewise an indication of inferiority to amend ourselves, to overcome our passions, to correct our character, with the purpose of drawing nearer to the good Spirits and of raising ourselves?

“No, no. When we say — to do good, we mean — to be charitable.

He acts as an egoist who calculates what each of his good actions may yield him in the future life, just as in earthly life.

There is no egoism, however, in a man's wishing to better himself, in order to draw nearer to God, since that is the end toward which all ought to tend.”

The corporeal life being only a temporary sojourn in this world, and the future having to constitute the object of our principal preoccupation, is it useful for us to strive to acquire scientific knowledge that concerns only material things and material needs?

“Without doubt. First, this puts you in a position to aid your brothers; then, your Spirit will rise more quickly if it has already progressed in intelligence.

In the intervals between incarnations, you will learn in an hour what on Earth would require years of apprenticeship.

No knowledge is useless; all contribute more or less to progress, because the Spirit, in order to be perfect, must know everything, and because, since progress must be effected in all directions, all acquired ideas help the development of the Spirit.”

Which is the more culpable of two wealthy men who employ their riches exclusively in personal enjoyments, one having been born into opulence and never having known want, the other owing to his own labor the goods he possesses? “He who knew sufferings, because he knows what it is to suffer. The pain to which he seeks to bring no relief, he knows it; but, as frequently happens, he no longer remembers it.”

He who ceaselessly accumulates possessions without doing good to anyone whatever, will he find a valid excuse in the circumstance of accumulating with the aim of leaving a larger sum to his heirs?

“It is a compromise with a bad conscience.”

Let us picture two misers, one of whom denies himself what is necessary and dies in misery upon his treasure, while the second is a miser only toward others, showing himself prodigal toward himself; while he recoils before the slightest sacrifice to render a service or to do anything useful, he never judges excessive what he spends to satisfy his tastes or his passions. Ask him a favor and he will always be in difficulty to grant it; let him imagine carrying out a whim, however, and he will always have enough for it. Which is the more culpable, and which will find himself in the worse situation in the world of the Spirits? “He who indulges himself, because he is more egoistic than miserly. The other has already received part of his punishment.”

Is it reproachable that we covet wealth, when we are animated by the desire to do good?

“Such a feeling is, no doubt, praiseworthy when pure. But will that desire always be sufficiently disinterested? Will it conceal no aim of a personal order? Is it not to do good to himself, first of all, that he in whom such a desire manifests itself is thinking?”

Does a man incur guilt by studying the defects of others?

“He will incur great guilt if he does it in order to criticize and divulge them, because that is to fail in charity.

If he does it in order to draw profit from it, to avoid them, such study may be of some use to him.

It is important, however, not to forget that indulgence toward the defects of others is one of the virtues contained in charity.

Before censuring the imperfections of others, see whether the same could not be said of you. Strive, then, to possess the qualities opposed to the defects you criticize in your fellow being. That is the means of making yourselves superior to him. If you censure him for being avaricious, be generous; if for being proud, be humble and modest; if for being harsh, be gentle; if he acts with pettiness, be great in all your actions.

In a word, so act that these words of Jesus cannot be applied to you: He sees the mote in his neighbor's eye and does not see the beam in his own.”

Does he incur guilt who probes the sores of society and exposes them in public?

“It depends on the feeling that moves him. If the writer aims only to produce scandal, he does no more than procure for himself a personal enjoyment, presenting pictures that constitute a bad example rather than a good one. The Spirit appreciates this, but he may come to be punished for that kind of pleasure he finds in revealing evil.” a — How, in such a case, is one to judge of the purity of the intentions and of the sincerity of the writer?

“There is not always utility in this. If he writes good things, profit from them. If he acts badly, it is a matter of conscience that concerns him exclusively. Moreover, if the writer is intent on proving his sincerity, let him support what he says by the examples he gives.”

Some authors have published most beautiful works of great morality, which aid the progress of Humanity, but from which they themselves drew no benefit. Will the good to which their works have given rise be taken into account for them, as Spirits?

“Morality without actions is the same as the seed without labor. Of what use is the seed to you, if you do not make it bear fruits that feed you?

Grave is the guilt of these men, because they had the intelligence to understand. By not practicing the maxims they offered to others, they renounced gathering the fruits of them.”

Is a man liable to censure for having consciousness of the good he does and for confessing it to himself?

“Since he can have consciousness of the evil he commits, of the good he likewise must have it, in order to know whether he acted well or ill.

It is by weighing all his acts in the balance of the law of God and, above all, in that of the law of justice, love, and charity, that he will be able to tell himself whether his works are good or bad, that he will be able to approve or disapprove of them.

He cannot, therefore, be censured for recognizing that he has triumphed over evil inclinations and for feeling satisfied, provided he does not grow vain about it, because then he would fall into another fault.”

On the passions.

Is the originating principle of the passions substantially evil, even though it is in nature?

“No; the passion lies in the excess to which will has been added, seeing that the principle that gives rise to it was placed in man for good, so much so that the passions can lead him to the realization of great things. It is the abuse made of them that causes the evil.”

How can one determine the limit at which the passions cease to be good in order to become bad?

“The passions are like a steed, which is useful only when governed and which becomes dangerous as soon as it begins to govern.

A passion becomes dangerous from the moment when you cease to be able to govern it and when it results in some harm to yourselves or to others.”

The passions are levers that multiply tenfold the forces of man and aid him in the execution of the designs of Providence.

But if, instead of directing them, he lets them direct him, man falls into excesses, and the very force that, wielded by his hands, could produce good, turns against him and crushes him.

All the passions have their principle in a feeling or in a natural need.

The principle of the passions is not, then, an evil, since it rests upon one of the providential conditions of our existence.

The passion properly so called is the exaggeration of a need or of a feeling.

It lies in the excess and not in the cause, and this excess becomes an evil when it has some evil as its consequence.

Every passion that draws man near to the animal nature draws him away from the spiritual nature.

Every feeling that raises man above the animal nature denotes the predominance of the Spirit over matter and draws him near to perfection.

Could man always, by his own efforts, overcome his evil inclinations?

“Yes, and frequently by making very insignificant efforts. What he lacks is the will. Ah! how few among you make efforts!”

Can man find in the Spirits efficacious assistance to triumph over his passions?

“If he asks it of God and of his good genius, with sincerity, the good Spirits will certainly come to his aid, for that is their mission.”

Are there not passions so intense and irresistible that the will is powerless to dominate them?

“There are many persons who say: I will it, but the will is only on their lips. They will it, yet they are very content that it not be as they will.

When a man believes that he cannot overcome his passions, it is because his Spirit takes pleasure in them, in consequence of its inferiority.

He who seeks to repress them understands his spiritual nature. To overcome them is, for him, a victory of the Spirit over matter.”

What is the most efficient means of combating the predominance of the corporeal nature?

“To practice self-denial.”

On egoism.

Among the vices, which can be considered radical?

“We have said it many times: egoism. From it results every evil. Study all the vices and you will see that at the bottom of all of them there is egoism.

However much you combat them, you will not succeed in extirpating them so long as you do not attack the evil at its root, so long as you have not destroyed its cause. Let all efforts, then, tend to that effect, for therein lies the true sore of society.

Whoever wishes, from this life onward, to draw nearer to moral perfection must purge his heart of every feeling of egoism, seeing that egoism is incompatible with justice, love, and charity. It neutralizes all the other qualities.”

Egoism being founded on the feeling of personal interest, it seems quite difficult to extirpate it entirely from the human heart. Will this be achieved?

“As men instruct themselves about spiritual things, they give less value to material things. Then, it is necessary that the human institutions which maintain and excite it be reformed. This depends on education.”

Egoism being inherent in the human species, will it not always constitute an obstacle to the reign of absolute good on Earth?

“It is true that in egoism you have your greatest evil, but it pertains to the inferiority of the Spirits incarnated on Earth and not to Humanity itself.

Now, purifying themselves through successive incarnations, the Spirits divest themselves of egoism, as of their other impurities.

Is there not on Earth a single man free of egoism and a practitioner of charity? There are many more men of this sort than you suppose. Only, you do not know them, because virtue flees the bright light of day. Since there is one, why should there not be ten? there being ten, why should there not be a thousand, and so on?”

Far from diminishing, egoism grows with civilization, which, it even seems, excites and maintains it. How can the cause destroy the effect?

“The greater the evil, the more hideous it becomes. It was necessary that egoism should produce much evil, in order that the necessity of extirpating it should become comprehensible.

Men, when they shall have divested themselves of the egoism that dominates them, will live as brothers, doing one another no harm, helping one another reciprocally, impelled by the mutual feeling of solidarity.

Then the strong will be the support and not the oppressor of the weak, and no more will be seen men who lack what is indispensable, because all will practice the law of justice. That is the reign of good, which the Spirits are charged to prepare.”

What is the means of destroying egoism?

“Of all human imperfections, egoism is the most difficult to uproot because it derives from the influence of matter, an influence from which man, still very near to his origin, cannot free himself and for whose maintenance everything contributes: his laws, his social organization, his education.

Egoism will weaken in proportion as the moral life comes to predominate over the material life and, above all, with the understanding, which Spiritism affords you, of your future state, real and not disfigured by allegorical fictions.

When, well understood, it shall have become identified with customs and beliefs, Spiritism will transform habits, usages, social relations.

Egoism rests upon the importance of personality.

Now, Spiritism, well understood, I repeat, shows things from so high that the feeling of personality disappears, in a certain way, before immensity. By destroying that importance, or at least reducing it to its legitimate proportions, it necessarily combats egoism.

“The shock that man experiences from the egoism of others is what often makes him egoistic, because he feels the need to place himself on the defensive.

Noting that others think of themselves and not of him, he is led to occupy himself with himself, more than with others.

Let the principle of charity and fraternity serve as the basis of social institutions, of the legal relations of people to people and of man to man, and each will think less of his own person, once he sees that others have thought of it.

All will experience the moralizing influence of example and of contact.

In the face of the present overflow of egoism, great virtue is truly necessary for anyone to renounce his personality for the benefit of others, who, ordinarily, give him absolutely no thanks for it.

It is principally for those who possess that virtue that the kingdom of Heaven stands open. To those, above all, is reserved the happiness of the elect, for verily I say unto you that, on the day of justice, he shall be set aside and shall suffer from the abandonment in which he shall find himself, every one who has thought of himself alone.”

Fénelon.

Praiseworthy efforts are undoubtedly being made to cause Humanity to progress. Good feelings are encouraged, stimulated, and honored more than in any other epoch. Meanwhile, egoism, that gnawing worm, continues to be the social sore. It is a real evil, which spreads throughout the whole world and of which each man is more or less a victim.

It is fitting, then, to combat it, as one combats an epidemic disease.

For this, one must proceed as physicians proceed: go to the source of the evil. Let there be sought in all parts of the social organism, from the family to peoples, from the hut to the palace, all the causes, all the influences that, openly or covertly, excite, feed, and develop the feeling of egoism. The causes being known, the remedy will present itself of itself.

It will then only remain to destroy them, if not totally, all at once, at least partially, and the poison will little by little be eliminated.

The cure may be long, because the causes are numerous, but it is not impossible.

Nevertheless, it will be obtained only if the evil is attacked at its root, that is, through education, not that education which tends to make instructed men, but that which tends to make men of good.

Education, suitably understood, constitutes the key to moral progress.

When the art of handling characters is known, as is known that of handling intelligences, one will succeed in correcting them, in the same way that young plants are straightened. That art, however, requires much tact, much experience, and profound observation. It is a grave error to think that, in order to exercise it with profit, knowledge of science suffices.

Whoever follows, both the son of the rich and the son of the poor, from the instant of birth, and observes all the pernicious influences that act upon them, in consequence of the weakness, the negligence, and the ignorance of those who direct them, observing likewise how frequently the means employed to moralize them fail, will not be able to be astonished at finding throughout the world so many oddities.

Let there be done with the moral nature what is done with the intelligence, and it will be seen that, if there are refractory natures, far greater than is judged is the number of those that only call for good cultivation, in order to produce good fruits.

Man desires to be happy, and natural is the feeling that gives rise to that desire. That is why he labors ceaselessly to improve his position on Earth, why he researches the causes of his ills, in order to remedy them.

When he understands well that in egoism resides one of those causes, the one that engenders pride, ambition, cupidity, envy, hatred, jealousy, which at every moment wound him, and which disturbs all social relations, provokes dissensions, annihilates trust, the one that obliges him to keep himself constantly on the defensive against his neighbor, in short the one that makes an enemy of a friend, he will understand also that this vice is incompatible with his happiness and, we can even add, with his own security.

And the more he has suffered through the effect of this vice, the more he will feel the need to combat it, as one combats the plague, harmful animals, and all the other scourges. His own interest will induce him to it.

Egoism is the source of all the vices, as charity is of all the virtues. To destroy the one and develop the other, such ought to be the aim of all the efforts of man, if he wishes to assure his happiness in this world, as much as in the future. Characteristics of the man of good.

By what indications can one recognize in a man the real progress that will raise his Spirit in the spiritual hierarchy?

“The Spirit proves its elevation when all the acts of its corporeal life represent the practice of the law of God and when it understands the spiritual life in advance.”

Truly, a man of good is he who practices the law of justice, love, and charity, in its greatest purity.

If he questions his own conscience about the acts he has performed, he will ask whether he has not transgressed that law, whether he has not done evil, whether he has done all the good he could, whether anyone has grounds to complain of him, in short whether he has done to others what he would have wished done to himself.

Possessed of the feeling of charity and of love of neighbor, he does good for the sake of good, without counting on any retribution, and he sacrifices his interests to justice.

He is kind, humane, and benevolent toward all, because he sees brothers in all men, without distinction of races or of beliefs.

If God has granted him power and wealth, he considers these things as A DEPOSIT, which it is incumbent upon him to use for good. He does not grow vain about them, because he knows that God, who gave them to him, can also take them from him.

If the social order has placed other men under his dependence, he treats them with kindness and forbearance, because they are his equals before God. He uses his authority to raise their moral nature and not to crush them with his pride.

He is indulgent toward the weaknesses of others, because he knows that he too needs the indulgence of others, and he remembers these words of the Christ: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

He is not vindictive. After the example of Jesus, he forgives offenses, in order to remember only the benefits, for he is not ignorant that, as he shall have forgiven, so shall it be forgiven him.

He respects, in short, in his fellow beings, all the rights that the laws of Nature grant them, even as he wishes those same rights to be respected for himself.

Knowledge of oneself.

What is the most efficacious practical means a man has of bettering himself in this life and of resisting the attraction of evil?

“A sage of Antiquity told it to you: Know thyself.”

a — We recognize all the wisdom of this maxim, but the difficulty lies precisely in each one's knowing himself. What is the means of achieving it?

“Do what I did, when I lived on Earth: at the end of the day, I interrogated my conscience, I reviewed what I had done, and I asked myself whether I had not failed in some duty, whether anyone had had grounds to complain of me. It was thus that I came to know myself and to see what in me needed reform.

He who, every night, would evoke all the actions he had performed during the day and inquire of himself the good or the evil he had done, beseeching God and his guardian angel to enlighten him, would acquire great strength to perfect himself, because, believe me, God would assist him.

Address questions, then, to yourselves, interrogate yourselves about what you have done and with what aim you acted in such or such a circumstance, about whether you have done anything that, done by another, you would censure, about whether you have wrought any action that you would not dare confess.

Ask still further: “If it pleased God to call me at this moment, would I have to fear the gaze of anyone, on entering anew into the world of the Spirits, where nothing can be hidden?

“Examine what you may have wrought against God, then against your neighbor, and finally against yourselves. The answers will give you either rest for your conscience or the indication of an evil that needs to be cured.

“The knowledge of oneself is, therefore, the key to individual progress.

But, you will say, how is one to judge himself? Is not self-love's illusion there to attenuate the faults and to make them excusable? The miser considers himself merely economical and provident; the proud man judges that in himself there is only dignity. This is very real, but you have a means of verification that cannot deceive you. When you are undecided about the value of one of your actions, inquire how you would qualify it, if performed by another person. If you censure it in another, you cannot hold it to be legitimate when you are its author, since God does not use two measures in the application of his justice.

Seek also to know what your fellow beings think of it, and do not scorn the opinion of your enemies, for they have no interest in masking the truth, and God often places them at your side as a mirror, so that you may be warned with more frankness than a friend would do.

Let him, then, scrutinize his conscience who feels himself possessed of the serious desire to better himself, in order to extirpate from himself the evil inclinations, as he pulls the weeds from his garden; let him take stock of his moral day in order, after the example of the merchant, to assess his losses and his gains, and I assure you that the account of the latter will be greater than that of the former. If he can say that his day was good, he will be able to sleep in peace and await without fear the awakening in the other life.

“Formulate, then, of yourselves to yourselves, clear and precise questions, and do not fear to multiply them. It is just that a few minutes be spent to conquer an eternal happiness.

Do you not labor every day with the aim of gathering possessions that will guarantee you repose in old age? Does that repose not constitute the object of all your desires, the end that makes you endure temporary fatigues and privations? Well then! what is that rest of a few days, ever troubled by the infirmities of the body, in comparison with what awaits the man of good? Is this other not worth the trouble of a few efforts?

I know there are many who say that the present is positive and the future uncertain. Now, this is precisely the idea we are charged with eliminating from your innermost being, since we wish to make you understand that future, in such a way that no doubt may remain in your soul. That is why we first called your attention by means of phenomena capable of striking your senses, and why we now give you instructions, which each of you finds himself charged with spreading. It is with this object that we dictated THE SPIRITS' BOOK.” Saint Augustine.

Many faults that we commit pass unnoticed by us. If, in effect, following the counsel of Saint Augustine, we interrogated our conscience more often, we would see how many times we fail without suspecting it, solely because we do not scrutinize the nature and the motive of our acts.

The interrogative form has something more precise about it than any maxim, which we often fail to apply to ourselves. The former demands categorical answers, by a yes or a no, which leave no room for any alternative and which are so many personal arguments. And, by the sum that the answers give, we shall be able to compute the sum of good or of evil that exists within us.