Chapter 1.

Gentlemen and dear Spiritist brethren, You are no longer beginners in Spiritism. Thus, today I shall set aside the practical details about which, I must acknowledge, you are sufficiently enlightened, in order to consider the question under a broader aspect, above all in its consequences. This side of the question is grave, the gravest unquestionably, for it shows the goal toward which the Doctrine inclines and the means of attaining it. I shall be somewhat long, perhaps, for the subject is very vast and, even so, much would still remain to be said to complete it. Thus, I shall claim your indulgence, considering that, being able to remain with you only for some time, I am forced to say all at once what, in other circumstances, I would have divided into several parts. Before approaching the principal angle of the subject, I believe I ought to examine it from a point of view that, in a certain way, is personal to me. Nevertheless, if it were only a matter of an individual question, I would certainly not occupy myself with it; however, it is connected with several general questions, from which instructions may result for everyone. That was the reason that led me to take advantage of this occasion to explain the cause of certain antagonisms that many people are surprised to encounter in my path. In the present state of things here on Earth, what man is there who has no enemies? In order to have none, one would have to not be on Earth, since this is the consequence of the relative inferiority of our globe and of its destination as a world of expiation. For this, would it suffice to do good? Oh! no; is not the Christ there to prove it? If, then, the Christ, goodness par excellence, was the target of everything that malice could imagine, why should we be surprised that the same happens to those who are worth a hundred times less? The man who practices good — this said as a general thesis — must, therefore, expect to meet with ingratitude, to have against him those who, not practicing it, are jealous of the esteem granted to those who do practice it. The former, not feeling themselves strengthened to rise, seek to lower others to their level, putting in check, by slander or by calumny, those who outshine them.

One constantly hears it said that the ingratitude with which we are repaid hardens the heart and makes us egoistic; to speak thus is to prove that one has a heart easy to harden, for this fear could not stop the truly good man. Acknowledgment is already a remuneration for the good one does; to practice it with a view to this remuneration is to do it out of self-interest. And, besides, who knows whether the one to whom a favor is done, and from whom nothing is expected, may not be led to better sentiments by upright conduct? It is perhaps a means of leading him to reflect, of softening his soul, of saving him! This hope is a noble ambition; if we are disappointed, we shall not have failed to accomplish what it was ours to accomplish. Meanwhile, one must not believe that a benefit which remains sterile on Earth is always unproductive; often it is a seed sown that germinates only in the future life of the one benefited. Several times we have already observed Spirits, ungrateful as men, being touched, as Spirits, by the good that had been done to them, and this remembrance, awakening good thoughts in them, eases for them the path of good and of repentance, contributing to shorten their sufferings. Only Spiritism could reveal this result of beneficence; to it alone was it given, through the communications from beyond the tomb, to show the charitable side of this maxim: A benefit is never lost, in place of the egoistic sense attributed to it. But let us return to what concerns us. Setting aside any personal question, I have natural adversaries in the enemies of Spiritism. Do not think that I lament it: far from it! The greater their animosity, the more it proves the importance that the Doctrine assumes in their eyes; if it were a thing of no consequence, one of those utopias that are born unviable, they would pay no attention to it, nor to me. Do you not see writings far more hostile than mine with regard to prejudices, and in which the expressions are no more moderate than the boldness of the thoughts, without, however, their saying a single word? The same would happen with the doctrines I seek to spread, if they remained confined to the pages of a book. But what may seem more surprising is that I should have adversaries even among the adepts of Spiritism. Now, it is here that an explanation becomes necessary. Among those who adopt the Spiritist ideas there are, as you know, three quite distinct categories:

1st) — Those who believe purely and simply in the phenomena of the manifestations, but who deduce no moral consequence from them;

2nd) — Those who see the moral side, but who apply it to others and not to themselves;

3rd) — Those who accept for themselves all the consequences of the Doctrine, and who practice or strive to practice its morality.