If we know that the development of being is possible through love, it will be human obligation to work to prevent that only pain has to play this role with the men in evolution on Earth.

The preponderance of pain is understood to drive progress in the early stages of the Spirit's development, but after that, in the course of time, the power of love will need to prevail in this process.

What Divine Providence determines through the mechanisms of its laws is beyond human control, it is quite true. But when it depends on human action in the construction of general well-being, those who already understand and have the feeling of solidarity will be able to play their part in installing the principles of justice and humanity.

Man as God's Helper in the application of Justice

Although we are subject to the sovereign will of God, the autonomy of human will must assist Providence in the application of justice in the world. It is not up to man to close his eyes to the pain of others caused by evil and injustice, simply claiming that the divine law of reincarnation is fulfilling its role. Even though many say they do not believe in this law, they always end up thinking that man “pays for his past mistakes”, thus admitting that there is “a past”. Even if this is true, there will always be “new errors” claiming justice. Although immutable, God's laws in the moral field are not inflexible, because they are generated under absolute love, wisdom and mercy. Man has whims, God does not.

Not all man's suffering is related to his past. The rigid understanding of the law of cause and effect must be softened by the understanding that love as an educational instrument can intervene in the conflicts and human problems of the present. Man does not need to learn only from the experiences of pain, suffering. We have, therefore, to help God as humble partners, in fulfilling his plans for us, that is, in the improvement of individual spiritual conditions, working for the installation of love and brotherhood on Earth.

Spiritism reproduces the moral matrix of Jesus

Jesus' message, of universal character, was addressed to all men, regardless of class and any other conditions, and was not confined to small isolated communities. The Master guided His teachings based on the moral deficiencies He knew existed in men. When He prioritized the poor and disinherited, He did so with the intention of minimizing their suffering and teaching their oppressors the lesson of brotherly love. He stated that it is difficult for the rich to enter Heaven, because the feeling of possession, the desire to accumulate, and the not always lawful patrimony are moral impediments, in addition to causing the suffering of the majority deprived of access to what is necessary. And He exemplified this by having nothing, ever, of His.

Allan Kardec stated that “Spiritism is addressed to the disinherited, more than to the happy ones in the world” (¹). His concern, as much as that of Christ, with the formation of a new mentality and a new understanding of man's relationship with the goods of the Earth* is more than evident, a relationship from which all His conflicts and which will result in the future balance in social relations. Thus, Spiritism reproduces the moral matrix of the thought adopted by Jesus.

Spiritist representation in the social environment

Spiritism is fundamentally concerned with the renewal of the individual, which will result in the total transformation of the world. The individual is inserted in a social context, living in society. In addition to the individual change and the influence that each one can exert on the environment, it is necessary to consider the possibility of a more comprehensive collective and organized action in the search for solutions to human problems. Therefore, men and institutions must work together to improve the world, not only for those who live today, but also for those who will reincarnate in the future.

The Spiritist Doctrine, holder of humanist and progressive thought, must speak to all classes to the point of influencing them, helping to reduce the prevalence of one over the other and ignorance about the laws that govern life in society. These laws of a natural order prioritize the progress and equality of all men. It is the educational role of the Spiritist proposal. Nothing to do with “religious” proselytism, but with the communication of new ideas that the world needs to get rid of prejudice, conservatism and accommodation.

Spiritist thought needs to increase its representation in the social environment. For this, it is necessary to encourage its movement to discuss, under the Spiritist perspective, social agendas, which are nothing more than human problems.

The Argentine Spiritist writer and philosopher, Humberto Mariotti, recalls that “Spiritism has a very rich sociological theory, and the time has come for its application to human society. Furthermore, to ignore that Spiritism has a social destiny would be to ignore its broad humanist lines and its mission in the face of human pain” (²). Allan Kardec had already said in The Genesis: “Spiritism has to play a big role in this regenerative movement”.

The Spiritist Commitment

For Spiritists, fighting injustices and social disorders has a much broader meaning. As reincarnationists, you know you will come back here, and whatever you fail to do now by default will increase your responsibility for the suffering ahead. And more: charity is a moral norm that the Spiritist needs to understand very well and broadly. The minimally coherent Spiritist cannot escape the commitment to collaborate with new ideas and postures that help in the disappearance of secular selfish habits that have delayed human progress.

The mystical and passive evolution of the individual must be complemented with action for the common good, so as to reflect on the renewal of social values ​​that will materialize harmonious and fraternal life. By recognizing themselves as equals, the division of men into classes will be gradually replaced by a solidary regime, where there will be no social pressures. The spiritual man will have understood that the importance of material life ends at the grave, and he himself will be stripped, while living in the physical body, of the useless weights he no longer needs to carry.

The systemic lagging forces that strive to maintain a materialistic system of life do much harm to humanity, slowing down its evolution. “The good will reign on Earth when among the Spirits that come to inhabit it, the good ones overcome the bad ones. (...) But the wicked will only leave it when man has banished pride and selfishness from here” (³).

Hence the importance of progressive spiritualist forces taking on their role in a practical way in the construction of the world of regeneration. Then the sectarians, the fanatics, the misoneists will feel out of place in an environment where the evil they can plan will openly expose them to general disapproval.

The exhaustion of individualism

Social and humanitarian crises are always caused by man's actions, his abuses, his addictions. Hunger, misery, diseases are not divine determinations, they are effects of human actions and choices.

We have long lived under a model that exacerbated our materialistic instincts and pushed our moral vices to a peak. It becomes evident that we now need to move in another direction. Evolution naturally leads the Spirit to socialize its moral and material goods. Saying this, the evangelical scene of Jesus sharing the bread comes to mind. What sense did that attitude of Christ have, morally and materially?

Spiritism and the non-dogmatic and progressive spiritualist doctrines must contribute to the clarification of man as to his condition of immortal Spirit, subject to reincarnate periodically to evolve. Therefore, it is necessary to rethink, modify, improve the structures that govern our life in society, aiming to lead it to a more human, free and fraternal, less selfish and predatory experience. And this will be achieved through the dissemination and practice of fresh, peaceful and feasible ideas.

New spiritual reality

Men cannot develop satisfactorily morally if they continue to live under old patterns and patterns of thought and behavior. The old and backward ideas begin to arouse the indignation of those who see in spiritual progress the only way to safely advance. Misoneists, grumpy reactionaries lose strength and will no longer be able to keep their hands heavy on human destinies. The reaction of the optimists, which has always manifested itself in isolation, will take over the world. Lights come on, windows open, light illuminates consciences and institutions, and turning back is impossible. The destroyers of the future have lost. They don't understand each other very well. Progressive spiritualists, libertarians will not have fought in vain. Freedom, equality and fraternity are preparing to welcome with open arms, finally, those who have always dreamed of them.

* Goods of the earth, according to the Spiritist concept, is everything that comes from nature, whether or not it has the interference of human action. Everything that the earth produces, by nature, and what derives from it through the action of man. By extension, I believe that one can also include moral values ​​as such.

(¹) Allan Kardec, The Genesis – miracles and predictions according to Spiritism, “Nature of the Spiritist Revelation, item 44, FEAL, 2018.

(²) Humberto Mariotti, Man and society in a new civilization, Edicel, 1983.

(³) Allan Kardec, The Book of Spirits, question 1019, LAKE, 1978.