Reincarnation

The doctrine of reincarnation is a truth that cannot be contested; once man will only think of the love, the wisdom, and the justice of God, he can admit no other doctrine.

It is true that in the sacred books one finds only these words: “After death, man will be rewarded according to his works.” But sufficient attention is not paid to an infinity of citations, which tell you that it is absolutely inadmissible that present-day man should be punished for the faults and the crimes of those who lived before Christ. I cannot return to so many examples and demonstrations given by those who believe in reincarnation; you yourselves can supply them, the good Spirits will help you, and it will be an agreeable work. You may add this to the dictations I have given you and shall give you still, if God permits it. You are convinced of God's love for men; he desires only the happiness of his children. Now, the only means they have of one day attaining that supreme happiness lies entirely in successive reincarnations. I have already told you that what Kardec wrote about the fallen angels is pure truth. The Spirits who people your globe have, for the most part, always inhabited it. If they are the same who return for so many centuries, it is because very few have merited the reward promised by God.

Christ said: “This race will be destroyed, and soon this prophecy will be fulfilled.” If one believes in a God of love and of justice, how can it be admitted that the men who live at present, and even those who lived eighteen centuries ago, could be guilty of the death of Christ without accepting reincarnation? Yes, the sentiment of love for God, that of the punishments and rewards of the future life, the idea of reincarnation are innate in man for centuries. Look at all of History, look at the writings of the sages of Antiquity and you will be convinced that this doctrine has in all times been admitted by all men who understand the justice of God. Now you understand what our Earth is and how the moment has come in which the prophecies of Christ will be realized. I regret that you find so few persons who think as you do. Your compatriots think only of grandeurs and of money, in order to make a name for themselves; they repel all that might hinder their unhappy passions. Yet, may this not discourage you; work for your happiness, for the good of those who may perhaps repent of their errors; persevere in your work; think always of God, of Christ, and celestial beatitude will be your reward.

If one will examine the question without prejudice, reflect on the existence of man in the different conditions of society and coordinate that existence with the love, the wisdom, and the justice of God, all doubt concerning the dogma of reincarnation must soon disappear. Indeed, how can this justice and this love be reconciled with a single existence, in which all are born in positions so different? In which one is rich and powerful, while the other is poor and miserable? In which one enjoys health, whereas the other is afflicted with ills of every sort? Here are found joy and vivacity; but far off, sadness and pain; in some, intelligence is more developed; in others, it scarcely rises above the brutes. Can one believe that a God all love would have caused to be born creatures condemned for their whole life to idiocy and dementia? That he would have permitted that children in the springtime of life should be snatched from the tenderness of their parents? I even dare to ask whether one could attribute to God love, wisdom, and justice in view of those peoples plunged into ignorance and barbarism, compared to the civilized nations, where laws and order reign, where the arts and the sciences are cultivated? It is not enough to say: “In his wisdom, God thus regulated all things.” No; the wisdom of God, which above all is love, must become clear to human understanding. The dogma of reincarnation clarifies all. This principle, given by God himself, cannot be opposed to the principles of the Holy Scriptures; far from it, it explains the principles from which moral improvement and perfection emanate for man. This future, revealed by Christ, is in accord with the infinite attributes of God. Christ said: “All men are not only children of God, but also brothers and sisters of the same family.” Now, these expressions must be well understood. Will a good earthly father give to one of his children that which he refuses to the others? Will he cast one into the abyss of misery, while he heaps upon the other riches, honors, and dignities? Add, moreover, that the love of God, being infinite, could not be compared to that of man for his children. The different positions of man have a cause, and this cause has for its principle the love, the wisdom, the goodness, and the justice of God. Thus, its reason for being is found only in the doctrine of reincarnation.

God created all Spirits equal, simple, innocent, without vices and without virtues, but with the free will to regulate their actions according to an instinct, which is called conscience, and which gives them the power to distinguish good and evil. Each Spirit is destined to attain the most elevated perfection, behind God and Christ. To reach it, it must acquire all knowledge through the study of all the sciences, initiate itself into all truths, and purify itself through the practice of all the virtues. Now, since these superior qualities cannot be obtained in a single life, all must traverse several existences, in order to acquire the various degrees of knowledge.

Human life is the school of spiritual perfection and a succession of trials. That is why the Spirit must know all the conditions of society and, in each of them, must apply itself to fulfilling the divine will. Power and riches, just as poverty and humility, are trials; pains, idiocy, dementia, etc., are punishments for the evil committed in a previous existence.

Just as, by free will, the individual finds himself in a condition to accomplish the trials to which he is subjected, so too he may fail. In the first case, the reward will not be long in coming, consisting in a progression in spiritual perfection. In the second case, he receives the punishment, that is, he must repair in a new life the time lost in the previous life, from which he did not know how to draw advantage for himself.

Before their reincarnation, the Spirits hover in the celestial spheres: the good ones enjoying happiness, the wicked ones giving themselves over to repentance, exposed to the pain of being forsaken by God. But, retaining the remembrance of the past, the Spirit recalls the infractions of the divine commandments and God permits it to choose, in a new existence, its trials and its condition, which explains why, often, we find in the inferior classes of society elevated sentiments and developed understanding, whereas in the superior classes we find ignoble tendencies and brutalized Spirits. Can one speak of injustice when man, who has misused his life, can repair his faults in another existence and attain his goal? Would not the injustice lie in immediate condemnation without appeal? The Bible speaks of eternal punishments, but this should not be understood as for a single existence, so sad, and so short; for this instant, for this blink in relation to eternity. God wishes to give eternal happiness as the reward of good, but it must be merited and a single life, of short duration, does not suffice to attain it. Many ask why God, for so long a time, would have hidden from men a dogma whose knowledge is useful to their happiness. Would he have loved men less than he does now?

The love of God is from all eternity. To enlighten them he sent sages, prophets, and Jesus Christ, the Savior. Is this not a proof of his infinite love? But how did men receive that love? Did they improve?

Christ said: “I could yet tell you many things, but you could not understand them on account of your imperfection.” If we take the Holy Scriptures in their true intellectual sense, we will find there many citations that seem to indicate that the Spirit must traverse several lives before reaching the end. Are not the same ideas about the reincarnation of Spirits also found in the works of the ancient philosophers?

The world has progressed considerably, under the material aspect, in the sciences, in the social institutions; but, from the moral point of view it is still very backward. Men are unacquainted with the law of God and no longer hear the voice of Christ. That is why, in his goodness and as a last recourse for them to come to know the principles of eternal happiness, God gives them direct communication with the Spirits and the teaching of the doctrine of reincarnation, words full of consolation and which shine in the darkness of the dogmas of so many different religions.

To work! And may the search be carried out with love and confidence. Read without prejudices; reflect on all that God, since the creation of the world, has deigned to do for the human race and you will be confirmed in the faith that reincarnation is a holy and divine truth.

[Anonymous.]

Observation. – We did not have the honor of knowing the Baron de Kock. This communication, which agrees with all the principles of Spiritism, is therefore not the product of any personal influence.

[1]

[see Dogma. — As for the various citations in the text above, from that Spirit who did not wish to identify itself, attributed to Christ, we could not make the links to them because they do not correspond precisely to what is recorded in the Scriptures.]