Thinking material fate before free moral choice

Thomas Magill, a 22-year-old American, fell from the 39th floor of a building in Manhattan, New York. He landed on a parked car in the street, and his body went through the rear window of the Dodge Charger and he crashed into the leather seat. Thomas fell more or less at a speed of 160 miles per hour and survived.

"Supernatural" wonder? "Was it by chance? Fate? Destiny? - In question 621 of The Book of Spiritswe study that the Law of God is engraved in our conscience. [1]. Let us begin this reflection by evaluating the reason for freedom of consciousness, and its progressiveness as we carry it out in us. The term fate and/or "destiny", according to the Spirits, can only be included as a component of the law of freedom, i.e., when we adopt a certain attitude, we determine a consequence, which will be good or bad, according to the content of the act. With each new existence we experience new challenges, inexorably, until we reach relative perfection.

As taught by different religions, fate ("destiny") is a plan created by God that cannot be changed by humans. Spiritism, for its part, does not admit that there is an absolute predestination and it defends that God endowed man with free will (the power to make his own decisions). Our consideration is to reshape the concept of "destiny", removing its deterministic contents, for a broad and transcendental vision, more in line with the educational and rectifying aspects of reincarnation processes.

Consequences of our options - On the subject of fate, the Encoder explains in The Book of Spirits that he perceives fate as the complete predetermination of events. In this work, Kardec exposes the reasons why there cannot be fate in the extreme sense, of a predetermination of everything that occurs. The master of Lyon outlines the special circumstances in which there may be a certain kind of predetermination of events. [2] The timely comprehension of these issues requires a critical examination of multiple philosophical concepts, namely, determinism, free will, causality, "destiny"...

Each event in our lives has a causal foundation, usually quite intricate, covering a number of previous, near or remote episodes in space and time. Such factors must be present so that "chance" is an illusion. Spiritism points to some concepts with different nuances in stating that if the causes of the most important events of our physical experiences, whether blissful or painful, cannot be located in our present life, then they will surely be experienced prior to our rebirth.

The effects of our choices (our acts), in accordance with or contrary to the law of love, justice, and charity may be immediate or come in a posthumous circumstance more or less distant in time. Therefore, it is this, episodically, that allows us to seize many of the diversities in the physical conditions, and social classes, and so on, of human beings within the parameters and confirmations of divine providence. Each person finds himself in a situation partially established by the set of his free deliberations of this current experience, of the previous experiences and the periods of time in the zones beyond the tombs, immediately impelled by his needs of moral improvement through the so-called testing situations and the training of the reason and feeling.

"By chance," a hollow meaning expression - There are many natural phenomena that defy human reason and will remain for a long time in the dimension of the unknowable in the circle of traditional science. In the episode Magill, was there an intersection of the Spiritual Plane, that is, would the Spirits have neutralized the effects of the "Law of Gravity" (after all it fell from the 39th floor) and consequently decreased the extent of impact on the car? Why is there no such supposedly spiritual intervention in many other similar events?

We must agree that the term "by chance" is an empty word that means nothing and does not even exist in the Spiritist dictionary. A miracle? For the Spiritists, a miracle would be an inconceivable postponement of the eternal laws fixed by God - works that are consequence of His will - and it would be unworthy of the Supreme Power to go beyond its own nature and vary in its decrees. Then, will there be fate in accidents and / or other events in life, according to the meaning given to this term? Does it mean that miscellaneous accidents and / or events are predetermined? And how would free will be then?

Indeed, as we have already pointed out, fate exists solely through the choice that the Spirit made - when incarnating – regarding this or that test it was to suffer. And still more, "fatal", in the true sense of the word, only the moment of death (disincarnating), according to Spiritism. So, whatever is the danger that threatens us, if the moment of death (disembodiment) has not yet arrived, will we die? According to the Spirits, we will not disincarnate and about this we have many examples.

Dependent freedom - In fact, in all times, many creatures have come out unharmed from the most extreme situations of danger. On the other hand, however, there will be those who ask: "But what is the purpose of certain people passing by such dangers and they suffer no serious consequences? In question 855 of The Book of Spirits, the subject is best explained by the Spiritual Benefactors: "If you escape from this danger, when still under the impression of the risk you have run, you will think, more or less seriously, of improving [morally], if the influence of the Good Spirits is more or less stronger upon you". [3]

This matter has multiple facets. They must be considered from various angles. We reaffirm all the time that fate exists solely by the choice we make, in incarnating, of this or that form to suffer. Choosing it, we establish for ourselves a kind of "destiny," which is the natural consequence of the position in which we find ourselves. If we are fulfilling, in the use of our free will, the reincarnating program, there is no way to be visited by "fatality". In truth, there is no absolute free will or determinism in the reincarnating processes, but a conditioned freedom.

From the moral point of view, "fate" is not "fatal" - The Doctrine of Spirits does not support the idea of ​​fate, thus deserving a reading and a reflection. Can we guess, what is the purpose of these accidents that cause so much amazement? How can the Divine Providence be perceived in these extreme situations (Magill case)? Why do some people escape and not others, from falling, for example, as we saw above, remembering that fate, destiny, bad luck, luck and by chance are words always mentioned in situations like this?

The mechanism of cause and effect is meant for the good of the creature. It does not have, as is generally imagined, a punitive character, but rather an educative action, in the sense of making the being recognize its error, and indicating to it the shortest way of working for good up to the limit of each one’s forces. When the Apostle Peter says in his Epistle, "Love covers the multitude of sins", [4] he wants to teach us that we do not have to suffer to repair a mistake, but through the experience of love we can achieve the same goal in a greater way and without the agonies of affliction.

The existence of "destiny" supposes that nothing happens by chance, but that everything has a predetermined cause, that is, events do not arise from nothing, but from that unknown force. The philosophical current of determinism holds that all human thoughts and actions are causally determined by a chain of cause and consequence. For the radical determinism, there is no occurrence that is by chance or coincidence, while flexible determinism holds that there is a correlation, between the present and the future, subject to the influence of random events.

Physical fate, the moment of death (disincarnating), will come naturally, in time and in a pre-established way, unless precipitated by the sinister use of our free will through suicide, for example.

An instant is a moment, a fraction of indefinite time, more or less flexible, different from the hour, minute and second of the disincarnating. It is evident that God prevents and supplies everything, but events are not conditioned by this; God "foresaw" our actions, but we did not act because God "prophesied," but because we used our freedom of choice (free will) this way or that, and the omnipresent Creator in the consciousness of the immortal Spirit had and always has knowledge of our way of acting.

Note, if we use alcoholic beverages and drive a vehicle at 200 km / h, or we cross an avenue of intense flow of cars, with our eyes closed, for example, we are exposing ourselves and subjecting ourselves to a "fatality", but before our wrong procedure, we use our freedom to do or not to do something or anything before the law of free will.

What do these reflections have to do with the case of the American who fell from the 39th floor of a building in Manhattan, New York? Well, to be safe, we believe that the Higher Spirituality has no commitment with the fatality, being able to change reincarnating schedules according to the necessity and the merit of the reincarnate. For this, from the spiritual point of view, "fatality" is not "fatal" and can be modified, since it is possible to renew our destiny every day, and let us not doubt it.

Most of the topics that form the subdivision of the theme of fatality contained in The Book of Spirits allude directly or indirectly to the thesis of preexisting physical programming. This programming can frame the general principle we are analyzing here.

Opting for the right and / or wrong - As we morally improve ourselves by becoming more aware, we can measure the main actions performed and, in the state of disincarnate, we can outline some events for our later incarnation, by more enlightened Spirits. Thus, for example, we will freely elect our future body, our racial composition, our social and cultural milieu, our family group, with a view to reparatory imperatives for our spiritual improvement.

However, taking into account that between the time of programming and that of the event programmed for us, we will continue to choose right and wrong, which may partially alter the result of a pre-programmed choice. The details of events depend on the circumstances we create through our choices.

Fatality can only exist before physical evidence – The Benefactors can distinguish "fatality" between material events and those of moral order, they say: "If there is sometimes a fatality, it is in material events whose cause lies outside of you and that they are always independent of your will. As for the acts of the moral life, they always emanate from the very man who, therefore, always has the freedom to choose. Therefore, in these acts, there is never fatality". [5]

Let us consider the fact, previously noted, that only matter, being inanimate and insensitive, can accurately be contained in a previous unavoidable reordering. As for our actions, they are joined in each moment to our free choice. Likewise, a deformed or exquisite body, a severe illness or recovery from health, a fatal accident or just an incident may be sinister, in the strictest sense of the term. But a homicide, a slander, reconciliation, a benevolent donation will never be fruit of fate.

This is true for all the intertwined beings, even those who are victims. No person reincarnates to be defamed or murdered, because that would mean that someone was reborn with the "duty" to defame or murder, which is obviously an anomaly. It is for this reason that the answer to question 851 indicates that fate can exist only in relation to physical evidence (such as some illnesses and disasters that one cannot prevent), nevertheless with regard to moral proofs, namely infidelities, the annoyances with the conduct of loved ones, the abuses and humiliations.

Life is wise, let us know how to fully live it.

References:

[1]     KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits, issue 621, RJ: Ed. FEB, 2001

[2]     KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits, issue 851, RJ: Ed. FEB, 2001

[3]     KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits, issue 855, RJ: Ed. FEB, 2001

[4]     1 Peter 4:8

[5]     KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits, issue 861, RJ: Ed. FEB, 2001

Translation:
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br