Instructions from the Spirits on the regeneration of Humanity.

— Events are rushing forward swiftly, so that we no longer say to you, as in former times: “The times are near”; now we say: “The times have come.”

By these words do not understand a new flood, nor a cataclysm, nor a general upheaval. Partial convulsions of the globe have occurred in every age and still occur, because they are inherent to its constitution, but they are signs of the times.

Nevertheless, all that is foretold in the Gospel must come to pass and is being fulfilled at this very moment, as you will recognize later on. But take the announced signs only as figures, of which it is necessary to grasp the spirit, and not the letter. All the Scriptures enclose great truths beneath the veil of allegory, and it is because the exegetes clung to the letter that they went astray. They lacked the key for the understanding of their true meaning. This key lies in the discoveries of Science and in the laws of the invisible world, which Spiritism comes to reveal to you. Henceforth, with the aid of this new knowledge, what was obscure becomes clear and intelligible. Everything follows the natural order of things, and the immutable laws of God will not be altered. Thus, you will see no miracles, nor prodigies, nor anything supernatural, in the vulgar sense attached to these words.

Do not look to the sky to seek there precursory signs, for you will not see them, and those who announce them to you will deceive you; but look around you, among men; it is there that you will find them.

Do you not feel like a wind blowing upon the Earth and stirring all Spirits? The world is in expectation and as if seized by a vague presentiment at the approach of the storm.

However, do not believe in the end of the material world; the Earth has progressed since its transformation; it must progress still, and not be destroyed. But Humanity has reached one of its periods of transformation, and the Earth is going to rise in the hierarchy of worlds.

It is not, then, the end of the material world that is being prepared, but the end of the moral world; it is the old world, the world of prejudices, of egoism, of pride and of fanaticism that is crumbling; each day carries away its debris. Everything will end for it with the generation that is departing, and the new generation will raise the new edifice that the following generations will consolidate and complete.

— From a world of expiation, the Earth is destined to become one day a happy world, and to dwell therein will be a reward, instead of a punishment. The reign of good must there succeed that of evil.

In order that men be happy on Earth, it is necessary that it be peopled only by good Spirits, incarnate and disincarnate, who will desire nothing but good. That time having come, a great emigration is taking place at this moment among those who inhabit it; those who do evil for evil’s sake and are not touched by the sentiment of good, being unworthy of the transformed Earth, will be excluded from it, because they would again bring there disturbance and confusion and would be an obstacle to progress. They will go to expiate their hardening in the inferior worlds, to which they will carry the knowledge they have acquired and will have as their mission to make them progress. They will be replaced on Earth by better Spirits, who will make justice, peace, and fraternity reign among them. We have already said that the Earth must not be transformed by a cataclysm, which would suddenly annihilate a generation. The present generation will disappear gradually, and the new one will succeed it, without anything being changed in the natural order of things. Everything will therefore proceed, outwardly, as usual, with a single difference, but this difference is capital: a part of the Spirits who used to incarnate there will incarnate there no more. In a child who is born, instead of a backward Spirit devoted to evil who would have incarnated, it will be a more advanced Spirit devoted to good. It is therefore a matter much less of a new corporeal generation than of a new generation of Spirits. Thus, those who expected to see the transformation operate through supernatural and marvelous effects will be disappointed.

— The present epoch is one of transition; the elements of the two generations are mingled. Placed at an intermediate point, you are present at the departure of the one and the arrival of the other, and each one already marks itself in the world by the characters proper to it.

The two generations that succeed one another have opposite ideas and points of view. By the nature of the moral dispositions, but, above all, of the intuitive and innate dispositions, it is easy to distinguish to which of the two each individual belongs.

Destined to found the era of moral progress, the new generation is distinguished by an intelligence and a reason that are generally precocious, allied with the innate sentiment of good and with spiritualist beliefs, which is an indubitable sign of a certain degree of prior progress. It will not be composed exclusively of eminently superior Spirits, but of those who, having already progressed, are predisposed to assimilate all progressive ideas, and apt to second the regenerating movement.

On the contrary, what distinguishes the backward Spirits is, first, revolt against God through the negation of Providence and of every power superior to Humanity; then, the instinctive propensity to degrading passions, to the antifraternal sentiments of egoism, of pride, of hatred, of jealousy, of cupidity, in short, the predominance of attachment to all that is material.

Such are the vices of which the Earth must be purged through the removal of those who refuse to amend themselves, because they are incompatible with the reign of fraternity and because men of good will always suffer from their contact. The Earth will be rid of them, and men will march unimpeded toward the better future that is reserved for them here, as a prize for their efforts and for their perseverance, while awaiting that a still more complete purification will open to them the entrance to the superior worlds.

— By this emigration of Spirits one must not understand that all the laggard Spirits will be expelled from the Earth and relegated to inferior worlds. Many, on the contrary, will return to it, because many yielded to the dragging force of circumstances and of example; in them the husk was worse than the essence. Once removed from the influence of matter and of the prejudices of the corporeal world, the majority will see things in a manner completely different from when they were alive, of which you have numerous examples. In this they are helped by the benevolent Spirits, who take an interest in them and who devote themselves to enlightening them and to showing them the false path they followed. By your prayers and exhortations, you yourselves can contribute to their improvement, because there is perpetual solidarity between the dead and the living. Those ones, then, will be able to return, by which they will be happy, for this will be a reward. What does it matter what they may have been or done, if they are animated by better sentiments! Far from being hostile to society and to progress, they will be useful auxiliaries, because they will belong to the new generation.

Thus, there will be a definitive exclusion only for the Spirits rebellious by nature, those whom pride and egoism, more than ignorance, render deaf to the voice of good and of reason. But, even these are not doomed to a perpetual inferiority, and a day will come when they will repudiate their past and will open their eyes to the light.

Pray, then, for these hardened ones, so that they may amend themselves while there is yet time, for the day of expiation is near.

— Unfortunately, through failing to recognize the voice of God, the majority will persist in their blindness, and their resistance will mark the end of their reign by terrible struggles. In their delirium, they themselves will dig their own ruin; they will impel toward destruction, which will engender a host of scourges and calamities, so that, without willing it, they will hasten the advent of the era of renewal.

And as if destruction did not march fast enough, suicides will be seen multiplying in proportions never before seen, even among children. Madness will never have stricken a greater number of men who, even before death, will be struck from the number of the living. These are the true signs of the times. And all this will be accomplished through the linking of circumstances, just as we have said, without the laws of Nature being in any way derogated.

— Yet, through the somber cloud that envelops you, and in whose bosom the storm roars, you already see the first rays of the new era appearing! Fraternity is laying its foundations at all points of the globe, and the peoples extend their hands to one another; barbarism grows familiar at the contact of civilization; the prejudices of races and of sects, which have spilled rivers of blood, are dying out; fanaticism and intolerance lose ground, while liberty of conscience introduces itself into customs and becomes a right. Everywhere ideas ferment; the evil is seen and remedies are tried, but many march without a compass and lose themselves in utopias. The world is in an immense process of gestation, which will last a century. In this labor, still confused, one sees, nevertheless, a tendency dominating toward one objective: that of the unity and the uniformity that predispose to fraternization. These too are signs of the time. But, while the others are those of the agony of the past, these latter are the first cries of the child being born, the precursors of the dawn that the next century will see rise, because, then, the new generation will be in all its strength. As greatly as the physiognomy of the nineteenth century differs from that of the eighteenth, under certain points of view, so greatly will that of the twentieth century differ from that of the nineteenth, under other points of view.

One of the distinctive characters of the new generation will be innate faith; not the exclusive and blind faith, which divides men, but the reasoned faith, which enlightens and fortifies, which unites them and blends them in a common sentiment of love for God and for one’s neighbor. With the generation that is dying out will disappear the last vestiges of incredulity and of fanaticism, equally contrary to moral and social progress.

— Spiritism is the path that leads to renewal, because it destroys the two greatest obstacles that oppose it: incredulity and fanaticism. It gives a solid and enlightened faith; it develops all the sentiments and all the ideas that correspond to the views of the new generation. For this reason it is as if innate and in a state of intuition in the heart of its representatives. The new era will therefore see it grow and prosper by the very force of things. It will become the basis of all beliefs, the point of support of all institutions. But, from here until then, how many struggles it will still have to sustain against its two greatest enemies: incredulity and fanaticism, which, a bizarre thing, join hands to bring it down! They have a presentiment of its future and of their ruin, which is why they fear it, for they already see it planting, upon the ruins of the old egoistic world, the banner that is to unite all peoples. In the divine maxim: Outside of charity there is no salvation, they read their own condemnation, because it is the symbol of the new fraternal alliance proclaimed by the Christ. n It shows itself to them like the fatal words of Belshazzar’s feast. And yet, they ought to bless this maxim, because it guarantees them against all reprisals on the part of those whom they persecute. But no, a blind force impels them to reject the only thing that could save them! What will they be able to do against the ascendancy of the opinion that repudiates them? Spiritism will come forth triumphant from the struggle, do not doubt it, because, being within the laws of Nature, it is, by that very fact, imperishable. See by what a multitude of means the idea spreads and penetrates everywhere; believe well that these means are not fortuitous, but providential; that which, at first sight, would seem bound to harm it, is precisely what aids its propagation.

Soon it will see champions arise, highly recognized among the most considered and most accredited men, who will support it with the authority of their name and of their example, and will impose silence upon its detractors, because they will not dare to treat them as madmen. These men study it in silence and will show themselves when the propitious moment arrives. Until then, it is fitting that they keep themselves apart.

Soon also you will see the arts drink there, as from a fecund fountain, and translate its thoughts and the horizons it uncovers through painting, music, poetry, and literature. It has already been told to you that there would one day be a Spiritist art, as there was a pagan art and a Christian art, and it is a great truth, because the greatest geniuses will draw inspiration from it. Shortly you will see its first sketches, and later it will occupy the place that it must have.

— Spiritists, the future is yours and that of all men of heart and devotion. Do not let yourselves be frightened by obstacles, for none of them will be able to hinder the designs of Providence.

Work without rest and thank God for having placed you in the vanguard of the new phalanx. It is a post of honor that you yourselves asked for, and of which you must make yourselves worthy by your courage, perseverance, and devotion.

Happy are those who succumb in this struggle against force; but shame will be, in the world of Spirits, for those who succumb through weakness or through pusillanimity. Moreover, struggles are necessary to fortify the soul; the contact of evil makes one appreciate better the advantages of good. Without the struggles that stimulate the faculties, the Spirit would let itself be dragged by an indifference fatal to its advancement. The struggles against the elements develop the physical forces and the intelligence; the struggles against evil develop the moral forces. [See the final Note of Allan Kardec in the previous article.]

Observations – 1st The manner in which the transformation operates is very simple and, as is seen, is entirely moral and in no way departs from the laws of Nature. Why, then, do the incredulous repel these ideas, since they have nothing supernatural? It is that, according to them, the law of vitality ceases with the death of the body, whereas for us it continues without interruption; they restrict its action and we extend it. This is why we say that the phenomena of spiritual life do not depart from the laws of Nature. For them the supernatural begins where appreciation by the senses ends. 2nd Whether the Spirits of the new generation be new, better Spirits, or old Spirits improved, the result is the same. From the moment that they bring better dispositions, it is always a renewal. The incarnate Spirits thus form two categories, according to their natural dispositions: on the one hand, the laggard Spirits who are departing; on the other, the progressive Spirits who are arriving. The state of the customs and of society will therefore be, in a people, in a race, or in the whole world, in the ratio of that of the two categories that has the preponderance. To simplify the question, let us consider a people, at any degree of advancement, and composed of twenty million souls, for example. The renewal of the Spirits being made in proportion to the extinctions, isolated or en masse, there was necessarily a moment when the generation of laggard Spirits surpassed in number that of the progressive Spirits, who counted only a few representatives without influence, and whose efforts to make good and progressive ideas predominate were paralyzed. Now, some departing and others arriving, after a given time the two forces balance and their influence counterbalances. Later, the newcomers are the majority and their influence becomes preponderant, though still hampered by that of the first; these, continuing to diminish, while the others multiply, will end by disappearing. Then will come the moment when the influence of the new generation will be exclusive. We are witnessing this transformation, the conflict that results from the struggle of the contrary ideas, which seek to implant themselves. Some march with the banner of the past, others with that of the future. If one examines the present state of the world, one will recognize that, taken as a whole, terrestrial Humanity is still far from the intermediate point, at which the forces counterbalance; that the peoples, considered in isolation, are at a great distance from one another, on this ladder; that some reach this point, but none has yet passed beyond it. Moreover, the distance that separates it from the extreme points is far from being equal in duration, and once the limit is crossed, the new path will be traversed with all the more rapidity, as an immensity of circumstances will come to smooth it. Thus is realized the transformation of Humanity. Without the emigration, that is, without the departure of the laggard Spirits, who must not return, or who will return only after having improved themselves, terrestrial Humanity would not for that reason remain indefinitely stationary, because the most backward Spirits in their turn progress; but, centuries would have been needed, perhaps thousands of years, to attain the result that half a century will suffice to realize.

A vulgar comparison will make what happens in this circumstance be understood still better. Let us suppose a regiment, in its great majority composed of turbulent and undisciplined men: these will provoke incessant disorders, which the severity of the penal law will often have difficulty in repressing. These men are the strongest, because more numerous; they sustain one another, encourage one another, and stimulate one another by example. The few good ones have no influence; their counsels are scorned; they are outraged, mistreated by the others and suffer this contact. Is this not the image of present society? Let us imagine that such men are withdrawn from the regiment, one by one, hundred by hundred, and replaced by an equal number of good soldiers, even by those who had been expelled, but who have seriously amended themselves: at the end of some time one will always have the same regiment, but transformed; good order in it will have succeeded disorder. The same will happen with regenerated Humanity.

The great collective departures will not only have as their objective to activate the exits, but to transform more rapidly the spirit of the mass, freeing it from the bad influences, and to give greater ascendancy to the new ideas.

This is why many depart, in spite of their imperfections, in order to retemper themselves in a purer fountain, because they are ripe for this transformation. If they had remained in the same milieu and under the same influences, they would have persisted in their opinions and in their manner of seeing things. A single sojourn in the world of Spirits suffices to open their eyes, because there they see what they could not see on Earth. The incredulous, the fanatic, the absolutist will thus be able to return with innate ideas of faith, of tolerance, and of liberty. On their return, they will find things changed and will undergo the ascendancy of the new milieu where they are born. Instead of making opposition to the new ideas, they will be their auxiliaries. Thus, the regeneration of Humanity does not absolutely require the integral renewal of the Spirits: a modification in their moral dispositions suffices. This modification operates in all those who are predisposed to it, when removed from the pernicious influence of the world. Not always will those who return be other Spirits, but, often, the same Spirits, thinking and feeling differently.

When this improvement is isolated and individual, it passes unperceived and has no ostensible influence in the world. The effect will be otherwise, when operated simultaneously in great masses, because, then, according to the proportions, in one generation the ideas of a people or of a race may be modified profoundly.

This is what is noticed almost always after the great upheavals that decimate populations. The destructive scourges destroy only the body, but do not reach the Spirit; they activate the movement of coming and going between the corporeal world and the spiritual world and, in consequence, the progressive movement of the incarnate and disincarnate Spirits.

It is one of these general movements that is operating at this moment, and that is to set in motion the rearrangement of Humanity. The multiplicity of the causes of destruction is a characteristic sign of the times, because it is to hasten the bursting forth of the new germs. They are the autumn leaves that fall, and which will be succeeded by new leaves, full of life, for Humanity has its seasons, as individuals have their ages. The dead leaves of Humanity fall, carried away by the gale, to be reborn more vigorous, under the same breath of life, which is not extinguished, but purified. For the materialist, the destructive scourges are calamities without compensation, without useful results, since, according to him, they annihilate beings without return. But for the one who knows that death destroys only the envelope, they do not have the same consequences and do not cause him the least dread, because he understands their objective and knows also that men lose no more by dying together than separately, since, in one manner or another, it is always necessary to arrive there.

The incredulous will laugh at these things and will treat them as chimeras. But, say what they may, they will not escape the common law; they will fall in their turn, like the others and, then, what will happen? They say: nothing. But they will live, in spite of themselves, and one day they will be forced to open their eyes.

— [Particular communication of the widow Foulon to Mr. Allan Kardec.]

Note – The following communication was addressed to us during the journey we have just made, on the part of one of our dear invisible protectors. Although it has a personal character, it also connects to the great question we have just treated, and which it confirms. For this reason it is placed here. Persons persecuted on account of their Spiritist beliefs will find in it useful encouragements.

“Paris, September 1, 1866.

“It has already been a fairly long time since I have shown myself in your meetings, giving a communication signed with my name. Do not judge, dear master, that it is out of indifference or out of forgetfulness, but I saw no necessity to manifest myself and left to others more worthy the care of giving you useful instructions. Meanwhile I was there and followed with the greatest interest the progress of this dear Doctrine, to which I owe the happiness and the calm of the last years of my life. I was there, and my good friend, Mr. T… gave you more than once the certainty of it, during his hours of sleep and of ecstasy. He envies my happiness and also aspires to come to the world I now inhabit, when he contemplates it shining in the starry sky and refers his thought to his harsh trials. “I too had them, very painful. Thanks to Spiritism I bore them without complaining and I bless them now, for I owe to them my advancement. Let him have patience. Tell him that he will come here one day, but that beforehand he must still return to Earth, to help you in the entire realization of your task. But, then, how everything will have changed! I shall imagine you both in a new world.

“My friend, while you can, rest the spirit and the brain fatigued by labor; gather material forces, for soon you will have much to expend. The events, which from now on are going to succeed one another with rapidity, will call you to the lists. Be firm in body and in spirit, so as to be in a condition to struggle with advantage. Then it will be necessary to work without rest. But, as has already been told to you, you will not be alone to carry the burden; serious auxiliaries will appear, when it is time. Listen, then, to the counsels of the good doctor Demeure and avoid all useless or premature fatigue. Besides, we shall be there to counsel and warn you. “Beware of the two extreme parties that agitate Spiritism, whether to bind it to the past, or to precipitate its course forward. Temper the prejudicial ardors and do not let yourself be reined in by the tergiversations of the timorous, or, what is more dangerous, but which unfortunately is all too true, by the suggestions of the enemy emissaries.

“March with a firm and sure step, as you have done until now, without disquieting yourself with what is said on the right or on the left, following the inspiration of your guides and of your reason, and you will not risk making the car of Spiritism leave the rails. Many push that coveted car, in order to precipitate its fall. Blind and presumptuous ones! it will pass, despite the obstacles, and will leave in the abyss only its enemies and those who envy it, embarrassed at having served its triumph.

“The phenomena are going to arise from all sides, under the most varied aspects, and already arise. Healing mediumship, incomprehensible illnesses, physical effects inexplicable by Science, all will gather in a near future, to assure our definitive victory, to which new defenders will contribute.

“But, how many struggles still to sustain and, also, how many victims! not bloody ones, no doubt, but wounded in their interests and in their affections. More than one will faint under the weight of the enmities, unleashed against all that bears the name of Spiritist. But, also, happy are those who shall have kept their firmness in adversity! For this they will be well rewarded, even here, materially. The persecutions are the trials of the sincerity of their faith, of their courage, and of their perseverance. The confidence they shall have placed in God will not be vain. All the sufferings, all the vexations, all the humiliations they shall have borne for the cause will be titles, of which none will be lost. The good Spirits watch over them and count them, and will know well how to separate the sincere devotions from the artificial dedications. If the wheel of fortune betrays them momentarily and casts them into the dust, it will soon raise them higher than ever, giving them public consideration and destroying the obstacles heaped up in their path. Later they will rejoice at having paid their tribute to the cause, and the greater that tribute, the more beautiful will be their portion. “In these times of trials it will be necessary for you to lavish upon all your strength and your firmness; all will need encouragements and counsels. It is also necessary to close one’s eyes upon the defections of the lukewarm and of the cowardly. On your own account, you too will have much to forgive…

“But I stop here, because if I can divine the whole of the events, nothing is permitted me to specify. All that I can tell you is that we shall not succumb in the struggle. They may surround the truth with the shadows of error, but it is impossible to stifle it. Its flame is immortal and, sooner or later, it will appear.”

Widow F…

Note. – We defer to the next number the continuation of our study on Mohammed and Islamism, because, by the linking of the ideas and the understanding of the deductions, it was useful that it be preceded by the article above.

[1] See The Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter XV.