We continue today the methodical study of “Heaven and Hell, or Divine Justice According to Spiritism” by Allan Kardec. The first edition was published in August 1, 1865. This work is part of the Kardecian Pentateuch. The answers to the questions suggested for discussion are at the end of the text below.
Questions for discussion
A. When did the purgatory appear in the Catholic theology and what does it exactly mean?
B. What is the cause of earthly miseries, according to Spiritism?
C. Is expiation eternal for the guilty Spirit?
D. Does Spiritism deny the existence of the purgatory?
Reading Text
43. Every person who suffers in this life can say that it is because he did not purify himself enough in his previous existence. If he does not do it in this life, he shall still suffer in the next. This is fair and logical. Since suffering means imperfections, the longer we suffer the more imperfect we are, in the same way that the longer a disease persists greater was the delay in treating it. (First Part, Chapter V, section 5.)
44. Due to his imperfections, the guilty Spirit suffers first in his spiritual life, and then he is put through his bodily life as a means to remedy himself. That is why he lives is new existence with people he offended, or in an environment similar to the one where he practiced evil, or still in the opposite situation to his previous life, such as in poverty if he was rich but evil, or being humiliated, if was proud. (First Part, Chapter V, section 6.)
45. The expiation in the world of the Spirits and on Earth does not mean a double punishment, but a complement, an unfolding of the effective work to make his improvement easier. The improvement depends of the Spirit. God wants man to owe everything to his own efforts and that he may be the worker of his future, an that, unhappy for more or less time, he can only complain about himself, since the path to progress is always open to him. (First Part, Chapter V, section 6.)
46. Why did Jesus not speak about purgatory? Due to the reason that, if there is no existing idea referring to it, then there is also no word to represent it. Christ used the word Hell, the only one used as a generic term to designate future punishments, without distinction. If He had mentioned with the word Hell, an equivalent of purgatory, He could not have defined its true meaning without entering a matter reserved for the future. He would have had to consecrate the existence of two special places of punishment. Hell, according to its general meaning, reveals the idea of punishment, and implicitly contains the meaning of purgatory too, which is nothing but a way of punishment. (First Part, Chapter V, section 10.)
47. The belief in eternal punishment loses ground day by day, so that, without being prophets, we can predict its near end. It was fought by so many powerful and peremptory arguments that it seems almost unnecessary to occupy ourselves with this belief from now on, letting itself be extinguished. (First Part, Chapter VI, section 1.)
48. The doctrine of eternal punishment, as the material Hell, had its reason for being, as fear could be a brake for men intellectually and morally less developed, which were not impressed with the idea of merely moral and temporal punishments. (First Part, Chapter VI, section 2.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. When did the purgatory appear in the Catholic theology and what does it exactly mean?
The Church admitted the purgatory in the year 593. It is a more rational dogma and more in accordance to the justice of God than Hell, because it establishes less strict penalties and an easier redeem for the faults of median gravity. In the Catholic view, purgatory would be a less tenebrous Hell, since the souls there also burn, although in milder fire. The souls in purgatory do not free themselves of Hell due to their development, but because of the prayers that are said or that we have someone say in their intention. This procedure originates many abuses, since paid for prayers turn the purgatory into a much more profitable mine than Hell. As we know, purgatory led to the scandalous trade of indulgences, through which it sells entrance into Heaven. This abuse was the primary cause of the Reformation, which led Luther to reject it. (Heaven and Hell, Part First, Chapter V, sections 1 to 3.)
B. What is the cause of earthly miseries, according to Spiritism?
Earthly miseries are no doubt a consequence of the soul's imperfections, because if it were perfect, it would not commit fouls or have to go through suffering. If a man on Earth would be absolutely sober and moderate, for example, he would not suffer illnesses arising from excesses. Most of the time he is wretched by his own fault, but if he is imperfect, it is because he already was like that before coming to Earth, expiating not only his current faults but the previous ones not yet redeemed. He repairs in a life of trials what he did in a previous life by making others suffer. The difficulties he goes through are, in turn, a temporarily correction and a warning regarding the imperfections he has to remove, in order to prevent other evils and to be able to progress towards good. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter V, sections 3 and 4.)
C. Is expiation eternal for the guilty Spirit?
No. The expiation period is according to the improvement of the guilty one. Spiritism does not deny, but in fact confirms the existence of a future punishment. What it does not accept is the concept of a located Hell with its furnaces and irredeemable punishments. Whatever the duration of the punishment is, in the spiritual or earthly life, wherever it is found, it always has a near or remote end. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter V, sections 7 and 8.)
D. Does Spiritism deny the existence of the purgatory?
Spiritism does not deny its existence, and says further that we live in it, because it is on a planet like Earth, of trials and expiation, that we suffer the misunderstandings, mistakes, and evils we committed. According to Spiritism, there are only two alternatives for the Spirit, temporarily punishment, proportionate to the offense, and a gradual award according to merit. Spiritism does not accept the third alternative, eternal punishment. The word purgatory suggests the idea of a confined place. This is the reason why it is naturally and better applied to Earth than to infinite Space where the suffering Spirits wander and specially regarding the nature of earthly expiation, which has the characteristics of a true expiation. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter V, sections 8 and 10).
