To begin, I hereby register that part of this text was copied from one of Leon Denis’ works, entitled After Death. Of course, it is a very tight summary of the chapter, as the author extends many philosophical considerations and it would be impossible to discuss them all.

When we want to talk about morals, it is necessary to examine what effects a philosophical doctrine has on social life. Thus, let us talk about two of them: Materialism and Positivism.

From this point of view, materialist theories, based on fatalism, are incapable of serving as incentive to the moral life, as a sanction to the laws of conscience. The idea, entirely mechanical, that they give to the world and to life, destroys the notion of freedom and, consequently, that of responsibility. They make the struggle for life an implacable law, by which the weak must succumb to the blows of the strong, a law that banishes the reign of peace, solidarity and human fraternity from Earth forever.

Undoubtedly, there are honest materialists and virtuous atheists, but this is not due to the rigorous application of their convictions. If they are so, it is in spite of their opinions and not because of them; it is because of a secret impulse of his nature, it is because his conscience has been able to resist all sophistry.

With the conviction that there is nothing more than the present life, and that no other justice superior to that of men exists, everyone can say, “Why fight and suffer?” Why piety, courage, righteousness? Why constrain and tame our appetites and desires?

If humanity is left to itself, if nowhere is there an intelligent and equitable power to judge, guide and sustain it, what help can it expect? What help will lighten the weight of your trials?

If there is no reason, justice, love, or anything else in the Universe but the blind force binding beings and worlds to the yoke of a fatality, without thought, without soul, without conscience, then the ideal, the good, the moral beauty there are so many illusions and lies. It is no longer there, however, in brute reality; it is no longer in duty, but in enjoyment, that man needs to see the goal of life, and, in order to achieve it, he must go beyond all vain sentimentality.

If we came from nothing to return to nothing, if the same fate awaits the criminal and the dedicated man; whether, according to chance combinations, some should be exclusively devoted to work, and others to honors; then, hope is a utopia, since there is no consolation for the afflicted, justice for the victims of fate.

But thought and reason shudder and protest against these doctrines of desolation, asserting that man struggles, works and suffers, not, however, to end up in nothingness; saying that matter is not everything, that there are laws superior to it, laws of order and harmony, and that the Universe is not just a conscious mechanism.

Positivism, in turn, moves away from any metaphysical study. (Metaphysics is a Greek word and it means "what is beyond physics" ... the common foundation of everything that exists, the soul, God, the purpose of existence and the being while a being, for example, are objects of study of metaphysics). It removes any investigation of primary causes, and it establishes that man can know nothing about the beginning of things; that, therefore, the study of the world and life is superfluous.

Positivism lies in the impossibility of providing conscience with a moral basis. In this world, man does not only have rights to exercise, he also has duties to fulfill, being the unavoidable condition of any social order.

To fulfill the duties, it is necessary to know them, and how can one possess this knowledge without asking oneself the aim of life, the origins and ends of being? How can we conform to the rule of things, if we forbid ourselves to explore the domain of the moral world and the studies of the facts of conscience?

Having made these considerations, let us get into the matter itself, the Moral Crisis.

Many conquests have taken place in the most diverse areas. However, unfortunately, moral progress is very poor.

Our evils, despite the progress of science and the development of education, lie in the fact that man is ignorant of himself.

How will Humanity get out of this state of crisis?

There is only one way to find the path of conciliation where these two enemy forces, Sentiment and Reason, can unite for the good and salvation of all. Every human being has within himself these two forces, under whose empire he thinks and proceeds.

In order to end this conflict, it is necessary that the light be made in the eyes of all, great and small, rich and poor, men, women and children; it is necessary for a new popular teaching to enlighten souls as to their origin, their duties and destinies.

Moreover, in this regard, the Doctrine of the Spirits appears as a light to clarify the shadows, to redeem the wicked, to clarify the ignorant, and to free the human creature from all its bonds.

With it, we know where we came from. We know that we will have a continuation, because it reveals to us the immortality of the soul, it makes us activate the heart of our tired souls, the Divine and Universal Laws that await us to observe them. It has learned principles that awaken the feeling of morality, which molds our character and opens our hearts.

Fiat-Lux!

If we rightly inquire into the origin of the great evils, which - in their various modalities - make men unhappy, we find them in moral blindness. Misery, illness, crime, war, the depravity of customs contain problems that can only be resolved by the light of the spirit, since such scourges have their roots in the darkness of conscience. More than urgent, it is necessary to light the internal lamp, to develop the visual faculties of the soul.

This crooked path, described above, through which youth enters, is the unavoidable result of spiritual blindness. If she had “eyes to see”, she would not wander at the disposal of the passions, thus falling down the slope of corruption that degrades and degrades her. Moreover, it is not just youth; mature men, even gray-haired, from whom it was lawful to expect edifying examples, present themselves attacked by the same pestilent virus, the same blindness that completely disables the organs of the light of life.

We also know that evil can be remedied. It can be healed through the restoration of Christianity in hearts, the one propagated by our Master, who came to bring the Light to the world.

There is material sun and there is moral sun. One meets the needs of the animal. The other meets the needs of the spirit. Just as animal life is bound by the influences of heat, light and magnetism of the one, so the life of the spirit is directly dependent on the heat, light and magnetism of the other. There is no physical hygiene where the sun's rays do not penetrate freely. In turn, there is no hygiene of the soul where the influx of eternal morals revealed by Jesus Christ does not have free and open access.

Jesus is the light of the world. He is the spiritual sun of our world. Whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness. Whoever despises Him condemns himself to blindness of the soul, that blindness capable of plunging man into the pelagoes of unfathomable abysses.

Let us think about it!