Considering our Earth as a great school, with well over seven billion enrolled students - the incarnated, and, according to the Spirits, more than twenty billion students waiting to be enrolled - the disincarnated, we can point two basic divine mechanisms of gauging the possible learning to be obtained in this college, checking the students of the school Earth, throughout the school years, that is, in the course of one's life: tests and atonement.

These are the methods created by God to boost and leverage our evolution, and, in the position of coordinator of this particular institute of teaching of the Universe, since there are millions of others occupying the greater chair, we know there also be Jesus the Good Director.

It is the law of the celestial obligation to pass through many lives for our own improvement, as many lives as are necessary to lead us to the ultimate goal: absolute moral perfection.

The number of trials is great, because there are many virtues to conquer and countless matters to master, in order to build the desired solid balance between the wings of feeling and intelligence, thus ensuring a constant evolution.

It is enough to observe, in the first case, how difficult it is to live in fullness only a particular virtue throughout life. In fact, we believe, there are no incarnate Spirits who can claim complete mastery of the many virtues, of which we know only the Administrator of this establishment has conquered them in full.

In the second case, let us think on how many specialties of engineering or even in the field of medicine exist today? In the past there were very few, however the number has been growing continuously, just to mention two areas of human knowledge. All these matters must also be seized by us, mastered.

At first glance, it is believed that this progress is infinite, but this understanding does not correspond to reality, for moral and intellectual development has a term¹:

169. Is the number of incarnations the same for all Spirits? "No; he who walks quickly saves himself many tests. However, these successive incarnations are always very numerous, because progress is almost infinite”. (Our bold)

While we do not incorporate all this learning, we go through various tests and atoning with a special note: we only expiate because our choice of evolution did not only contemplate the path of good, a possibility fully foreseen in the divine order²:

262. How can the Spirit, who, in its origin, is simple, ignorant and inexperienced, choose a knowledge-based life and be responsible for that choice?

"God remedies his inexperience, by tracing the path that he must follow, as one does with a child, from the cradle. However, little by little, as his free will develops, He sets him free to choose and only then does the Spirit often go astray, taking the wrong path, by not listening to the advice of the Good Spirits. That is what we can call the fall of man". (Our bold)

Notice this passage in the Spirits’ answer: it often happens that he is lost; in other so many times, it happens he does not lose himself, walking from the beginning and only on the correct path. This enlightening reason explains the fact that there are so many ills in this school, because in the college Earth there are students who come together and who - in the free exercise of the use of their free will - firmly chose not to follow only the good path. They are on average rebellious and students who repeat the lessons given by the Director Jesus two thousand years ago. As a consequence, since we have already made many mistakes, the well-known expression "multitude of sins", counting from our origin, to the detriment of our neighbor and ourselves, we must atone for, or rescue, these undesirable situations of the past - created by ourselves.

Being the divine mechanics of life like this, a question might be raised: How can I know, or distinguish, when I am going through a trial or atonement and what is the difference between them, so to better conduct myself through the various challenges in life?

Analyzing this doubt according to the Doctrine, we know in fact that it is a question expressing only our idle curiosity to specifically know under which conditions succeed the many facts of life, if they are tests or spiritual rescues, consequently irrelevant, according to the doctrinal vision.

We, Spirits who are still imperfect, need not know whether we are passing a chosen test in “erraticity”, ³ or, on the other hand, if we are experiencing an atonement, since what we need for sure is simply to overcome the difficulties, whether they have their origin in a test or an atonement; the goal is to overcome or to overcome ourselves when facing acute conditions, and not always pleasant, that mark our life, common situations in a typical world of trials and atonements, in the process of regeneration.

By the way, and always opportune, we can remember, for example, this record in another work of the Encoder: ⁴ "There is no belief, however, that every suffering endured in this world means the existence of a certain default. They are often simple tests sought by the Spirit to complete its spiritual purification and activate its progress. Thus atonement always serves as a test, but not always a test is atonement".

That is, we are always being tested, either by the test itself chosen previously, or by the atonement, requested or imposed; the latter will serve at all times also as test, and if well supported will give the student the mark of approval.

We often believe that the tests have surpassed our strengths, and we recognize that we are not duly prepared and we feel incapable of accomplishing them. This seemingly right conclusion is not true, it does not find support in the Divine Laws, since, observing the present picture fairly, with impartiality, one can easily conclude that we have increased our tests, thus making them unbearable from our point of view, but this was as a result of the improper conduct and untimely actions taken by all of us.

Various sufferings and sorrows of this life are caused by conduct and actions out of the good path, i.e., of the divine guidelines in this very life; therefore, they have their origin in the present and not in the distant past. As a result, life answers back with new hardships and setbacks still during the current life. And if there is no repercussion yet in this life, these faults of the present will present themselves as atonement of the past in our future lives; it's all very simple. Thus, if we aim for a better future, pray and watch now. This maxim, if well applied, can provide us with many mishaps and suffering in the future.

Another important aspect to consider is the certainty that if we experience the trials and atonement with rebelliousness, reluctance, murmurs or complaints, doubting the justice of the Creator, test or redemption loses its function and meaning; therefore, life will invite us or will force us, in the near future, to go through new assessments until we are fully successful. This system of teaching is perfect, for the Father is perfect.

Faced with these enlightening explanations offered by the Doctrine, we must accept life’s difficulties as opportunities for learning, in our own favor, since God always acts with kindness and mercy, not asking us for greater efforts than we can bear; we should not have the slightest doubt.

And since God is the Father, and not an administrator, He does not regard any fault as irredeemable, that is, unforgivable. Whatever it may be, He will give us countless opportunities to achieve unrealized success in this lifetime, yet keep in mind that these new tests will often occur in situations less favorable than those experienced now, otherwise the process of education of the Spirit is not accomplished.

Everything depends on us, it is in our hands. Let us do now and not procrastinate; let us speed up the ongoing process of regeneration of the planet, because we are the artisans of this change.

References:

¹ KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. Translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra. 3rd ed. Commemorative of the Sesquicentenary. Brasilia: FEB, 2007. Q.169.

² ________.________. Q.262.

³ Erraticity: state of the wandering Spirits, i.e., disembodied, during the intervals of their various bodily lives (Allan Kardec - Practical Instructions on Spiritist Manifestations - Spiritist Vocabulary).

⁴ _____. The Gospel According to Spiritism. Translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra. 2nd ed. 1. imp. Brasilia: FEB, 2013. Chapter V, "Blessed are the afflicted", item 9.