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The procedural perspective of Charity

In previous articles we dealt with the subject Charity under a static perspective when we approached its component virtues. In this article, we will discuss it under a dynamic perspective: the procedural perspective.

Charity is the central virtue of the Spiritist moral. However, when we compare what the Spirits say in the Encoding with what we actually do, we have to honestly admit that there is a gap. Perhaps this is due to our poor understanding of what is true Charity. All of us that have looked more closely into this matter can see that we have narrowed Charity, in most cases, to social assistance, when not to welfare. We do not predict here any pejorative quality to social assistance, because, of course, its purpose is to do well, and in our country we will still need it for a long time. At the other end, some restrict Charity even more, making of it simple symbolic deeds without a real ethical and Christian basis. However, as the Encoder himself assured, unless we practice true Charity we will never be true Spiritists.

The way we resume Charity in our daily life can be a consequence of the narrow perspective we have about it. Therefore, if we present it under other perspectives, we may contribute to broaden our understanding and to make it easy to apply within our activities.  In short, we need to think about this grand view from different perspectives so that by changing our perception, we can also change our inner selves and thus change the reality around us too.

In general, we are used to seeing Charity in a static and narrow way. So, in a first approach, it will seem strange and even anti-doctrinaire to view it under a procedural perspective. However, this perspective is not a doctrinal novelty, because the Encoding Spirits themselves mentioned it.

Our first step towards the change of this perception should be the understanding of what is a process. Let us make a semantic exploration to better understand the term. Process is a word that comes from the Latin, and from the conjunction of the terms “pro” and “cedere ”, which indicate the action or set of actions that seek to "go forward ", a follow-up, a route, and a move towards a goal.

Charity is also a process

Currently, this term was taken over by science and reinterpreted, and now it is understood as a continuous sequence of actions or activities that show a certain unity, i.e., they are linked in some way, and by acting together they converge to achieve a certain objective. This can be, for example, designing something or even other processes, create something, produce tangible things or services, control activities, maintain a determined situation within acceptable standards, ensure the quality of an activity and so on. From the viewpoint of science, the process consists of three elements: inputs, converter, and outputs.

Inputs may be material things, energy, information, and so on, depending on the type of processing that will be executed. The converter is not only the device but the set of activities it performs on the inputs, and it seeks to transform one thing into another, makes some simple alteration, or even prevents a transformation to take place.  Our mobile is an example of a converter device, because it turns digital signs into sound and images on a screen (display), and vice versa: it also changes the voice into images and digital signs. The result will be an "output". Some terms commonly used as synonyms of "output" are effect, result and product. The product is not always something tangible, as we might suppose; it can be an image, an emotion, an experience, a learning experience. When someone lovingly embraces a sad person, usually this person feels an emotional relief for his suffering; this relief is the effect or the “product” of the embrace. Therefore, there was a conversion of an emotional suffering into an emotional relief. When applied to subjectivity, the process can also be seen as a way to act, and not only as a sequence of production of things. We draw here just a few essential notes to understand the meaning of the term in question, without exhausting, of course, all its features and applications.

We have strong reasons to say that Charity is also a process.

In question 888-(a) of The Book of Spirits, the Spirits answer Kardec as follows: "True Charity is always kind and benevolent; it is in the deed itself, and also in the way it is practiced. A service provided with gentleness has a double value. If practiced with arrogance, it may be that the one, who accepts it, is obliged to do so, but his heart will be very slightly touched” ^[i].  

Charity depends on the deed itself and how it is practiced

Let us break down the statements contained in the answer above to better understand it. 

1) True Charity is always kind and benevolent: first, let us recall that the Spirits state that for Charity to be true there is a condition sine qua non: it must always be kind and benevolent. It cannot be kind and benevolent today and not tomorrow; today it cannot be kind, but not benevolent, and tomorrow benevolent, but not kind, that is, it can only be Charity if goodness and grace go together. We can reduce it to the simplest elements and obtain the following categorical statement: Charity is kind and benevolent, which is an essential definition.

2) For what reason do the Spirits make such a statement? The answer is that: "(Charity) is in not only in the deed itself, but in the manner in which it is practiced". This means that in Charity you cannot separate - unless mentally - the act from the way it is practiced, because they are simultaneous and cannot therefore be isolated and exercised at different times. There is a synthesis between kindness and benevolence. Let us note that the act and the way of acting are already included in the essential definition; there is a link between both, because the deed should be kind, and how it is done should be in a benevolent manner.

3) Then we have: "a service rendered with kindness has a double value". In the context of the answer, we can understand that the service rendered should be good, i.e., the service, as a deed or product, has to produce something good; kindness is the expression of benevolence. Here is the double value.

4) Finally we have: "If the (service) is (provided) with aplomb, the one that needs it can accept it, but his heart will be slightly touched". This statement is the closing of the answer. The deed will be complete if the receiver accepts the service, even if it is only because of his need; when the deed relieves our neighbor’s difficulty, it is something good. However, the absence of kindness, i.e., the impolite way of acting when providing the service, makes it incomplete from the moral point of view. To be charitable, the deed (benefit to the needy) should be good and benevolent (exercised with kindness), no doubt for the benefit of the needy.

5) In addition the Spirits say: "[...] but his heart will be touched only a little." Now, this sentence for sure indicates that the purpose of the assistance is not only to satisfy a need. The gentle way of acting, complementing the good deed, aims to produce an affective modification on the one that benefits from this assistance, it aims to touch him. The kindness that comes with the accomplishment and the satisfaction of fulfilling someone’s need can cause a kind of excitement, a strong emotion that may – through the good deed – withdraw the one that benefits from a situation of disbelief, sadness, or emotional lethargy.

What is the meaning of "good" and how to understand it?

Before we continue, we will present some additional information to better understand the statements of the Spirits.

When they say that Charity is always kind, and that it is present in the deed, what is the meaning of "deed" and "kind deed"? And what is the meaning of "good"? How can we understand it?

Let us deepen this subject, analyzing the meaning of the term "deed (act)", according to the teachings of Mario Ferreira dos Santos^[ii]. We cannot understand the deed (act) without referring to the power. For Aristotle things are not just what they are, but also what they can be. Thus, things can pass from power to the deed (act), by means of a mutation (movement). The mutation has three stages: a) the possibility; b) the realization in progress; and, c) the achievement. Thus the term "deed (act)" applies to the moments "b" and "c" in opposition to the moment "a", which is the thing in power, still in the field of the possibility, of the can be, as in "c" the “to be” has already taken place, as a result of the mutation. This is how the movement closes.

For Aristotle the moment "a" - the power - was the dynamis; the moment "b" - the deed (act) - was the energéia, and the moment "c", - "the end", the realization - was entelekhéia. The word "deed (act)" meant both energéia and entelekhéia. In the Aristotelian philosophy, there are two fundamental concepts, the matter and form. This should not be mistaken by the form, and that is not only the raw material perceived by our senses. Matter is power, i.e., what has the possibility to become this or that. However, matter changes into something through form.

The deed (act) is opposed to power; it is the act that models power. Thus, the power depends on the act to exist; it depends on it to acquire determination. It is through the act that a possibility is accomplished, because the act is the reality of a being, which was still undetermined; it is the principle of the being. Power is passive, it is inert, and the deed (act) is active. That is why it is the act that forms the power. The meaning of the act becomes clear when we understand that the Greek word energéia has the sense of effectiveness, which is also composed by the word ergon, meaning work. If work is the action that produces effects, then the act (energéia) is the action that produces results. 

Is there a difference between a “good deed” and a “kind act”?

Well, if a deed (act) is an action in progress, then Charity has a dimension “to do”. Let us see a very common example: a person who gives bread to someone who is hungry. The act of giving the bread has the purpose of satisfying one’s hunger; it is to satisfy the pressing hunger of a person. To satisfy this hunger is a good that is done in the form of bread. The handing out of bread is the satisfaction of hunger in progress, ongoing, but when this good is only in the intention of the benefactor it is only a potential good; when the bread is bought, prepared, packed and taken to the one who needs it, then it is a good in a conducting via, i.e. a good in progress. When the hungry one eats the bread, the purpose is achieved: the well was carried out. However, is this a good deed (act), or is it a kind act?

Let's see.

In Latin "bonus" means good, and "bene" means well. Firstly, both terms are synonymous and have the connotation of the idea of ​​perfection - in the abstract and in the concrete - of all that is finished, complete, or has reached the maximum degree of its kind^[iii]. When, for example, we see the completion of a building and it is approved because it was within the required standards, we say that it was good, or that it was "well done"; if we say that a man is a good father we are saying that he has an expected performance as parent, whether or not a he is a biological parent^[iv].

Second, well and good are not only what they are in themselves, but also what is good for someone. Bread is good in itself, and it is also good for the hungry. Well is what is not possessed, however it is desired, it is the object of wishes and desires, and when possessed it gives satisfaction, regardless of any moral obligationv. A car can be good for a driver and bad for another, depending on what the vehicle used for. So good is also what meets a need, and what reaches an expected performance in a particular function.

Goodness qualifies what proves to be provided with what is good, that has well in abundance. However, for something to demonstrate the abundance of well, it requires the ability to do so. 

Kindness to our neighbor is also Charity

Kindness is the ability^[v] of doing or reflecting the good one is provided with. You can only show what somehow exists, what has "to be". Nothing, since it does not exist, it cannot be shown.

But the well, or good, needs its opposite to be appreciated. If we give bread to the hungry, this is appreciated as a good; if we voluntarily let someone starve, this will be considered as an evil. Consequently, Charity is a deed (act) considered as good, when it shows goodness, satisfying certain needs and performing its function within expected standards. This matter is so clear that it seems redundant to speak of "kind charity" because if it is not kind, then it will never be Charity!

Up to now, we have only referred to the goodness present in Charity. But what is the role of kindness in the process? In this regard, the Spirits confirm that Charity is always kind, when they say that "True Charity is not just about the alms you give, or even in the words of consolation you may add. [...]. The sublime Charity that Jesus taught is also in the kindness you always use and in all things regarding your neighbor". (ESE. Chapter XI, Item 14, Page 200).  

Putting the words in a different order, it becomes clearer: Charity is the kindness we always use regarding our neighbor, and not only the alms we give, and not even the words of consolation we may add. Even a superficial inspection of this statement shows us that the alms (something tangible) as much as the consolation words (something intangible) are acts (deeds), are goods in progress to be accomplished. However, the most important is that Charity is kindness.

A parenthesis is worth here to better explain this virtue and its position as power and deed (act). We said in another article^[vi]  that benevolence means "good will", the virtue which inclines us to seek the good of others, and therefore, it would be a virtue guiding the other virtues that make up Charity. Watching this compound word, we see that it is formed by the "good" and the will (want). So if both goodness and goodwill derive from "Good", we can infer that both have the same root, and that is the reason for their strong resemblance to such a point that they are confused. Some dictionaries consider them synonyms. However, there are significant differences. If on one hand goodness seeks the achievement of well, on the other, benevolence is a way of acting.

True charity is kind

In Charity, kindness plays two roles, or rather, it is present in two stages: first as power and then as deed (act). As power it exercises the function of "input" of the process, or principle of the deed (act), since in its base there is a well. In the second moment, the will guides the well. Let us imagine that the well is a free power in nature that needs to be disciplined to produce something good. It is the will that leads the good, inherent to the Spirit, to a particular purpose. Also according to the Encoding Spirits, affability and sweetness are manifestations of kindness^[vii].

Affability is kindness and sweetness is smoothness. Therefore, kindness is featured, beyond the will that conducts the well, and also as a kind and sweet manner of producing something good.

The following statement confirms what we say: "True charity, [...], is gentle and sharp in concealing the benefit, in avoiding even the simple aspect that may offend, since all moral friction increases the suffering that is born in the need”. ^[viii] It is clear here that to avoid hurting and humiliating the needy, is sweetness.

To complete the explanation, we have to say that kindness has a “reducing” function in Charity. If Charity aims to do others good, especially for those most in need, although the result of the deed (act) is good, in no way will this deed (act) increase others’ sufferings, and if the kind deed (act), is accomplished in an indelicate manner, it can increase suffering. Therefore, it must be softened both by the presence and action of kindness.

We believe that we have sufficiently explained Charity under a procedural perspective. The well is the "input" of the process, or the "matter" on which goodness acts and converts it into something good for someone, with the joint action of kindness, which seeks to alleviate the suffering of others. We have then the good as an “input”; kindness and benevolence as the good in production (conversion) and the benefit to be produced without increasing suffering, as the deed’s (act's) purpose. Basically, Charity is the good moving from one person to another and being converted from a potential good into a concrete good.