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. What does Spiritism recommend to improve our soul and suppress the bad tendencies brought from the past?
B. There is only one means to shorten the suffering of newly disembodied Spirits. What is it?
C. What happened to Sanson in the last moments of his bodily existence?
D. How do happy Spirits face death and what is their opinion about happiness on Earth?
Reading Text
120. If you wish to purify yourself, repress your bad tendencies, and master your passions, it is necessary to give up your immediate benefits in favor of the future. It is not enough for you to believe, but you have to understand, to be able to connect to the spiritual life, drive all your aspirations in this direction, and prefer the spiritual life to earthly life. (Second Part, Chapter I, section 14).
121. An honest Spiritist does not merely believe, but he understands by reasoning; afterlife is a fact that continually unfolds before his eyes; a fact he touches and sees continuously. Therefore, he cannot be influenced by any doubt. Corporeal life is very limited if compared to spiritual life, the true life. The circumstances of his journey do not matter, because he understands the reason and use of human vicissitudes, when supported with resignation. (Second Part, Chapter I, section 14.)
122. Spiritism greatly facilitates salvation by providing knowledge, inspiring good feelings, and making the Spirit understand the need to improve, and it still gives the means to help release the other Spirits when leaving their material shell, speeding disruption by means of evocation and prayer. A prayer is a spiritual magnetization and through it, we are able to reach a quicker breakdown of the perispirit fluid. Through a judicious, wise, prudent, comforting evocation, we fight the Spirit's torpor in order to help him to, quickly, regain his lucidity. (Second Part, Chapter I, section 15.)
123. From Chapter II of the Second Part, this book presents 65 communications by spiritual entities, as follows: 17 were happy, 6 in average conditions, 9 were sufferers, 5 suicides, 5 repentant criminals, 5 hardhearted, and 14 cases of earthy expiation. Says the Encoder, "We did not look for them among the more or less illustrious characters of antiquity, the situation of which might have changed considerably after we met them, and, therefore, they did not offer sufficient evidence of their authenticity. Instead, we considered these examples in the most ordinary circumstances of contemporary life, since each one can find more similarities and learn, by comparison, the most fruitful guidelines." (Second Part, Chapter I, Kardec's note after section 15.)
124. The closer we are to the Spirit's earthly life, the easier to verify his identity. (Editor's note: Indeed, the identity of those who lived long ago is hampered by several factors, and one of them is the change in character that may have occurred with the passing of time. So is that if we evoked Publius Lentulus, we would not find the proud and formal Roman senator. Instead, in his place, we would find Emmanuel, with very different ideas from those defended by the senator.) (Second Part, Chapter I, Kardec's note after section 15.)
125. Sanson, a former member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, who died on 04/21/1862 after a year of atrocious suffering, had asked Kardec to evoke him. To satisfy his desire, and to evoke him as soon as possible, Kardec went with some comrades of the Spiritist Society to the mortuary, where, in the presence of the body, an hour before his burial, the evocation was made. Days later, Sanson also communicated in the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies. (Second Part, Chapter II, section I.)
126. Sanson thanked the call, but said he was so weak, that he was trembling. Then, comparing the situation with that of two days ago, he said, "My situation is very blessed, I am regenerated, renewed, as they say here, not feeling the old pain. As I passed from earthly to spiritual life, I was in an incomprehensible state of mind and deprived of lucidity. However, I requested God to allow me to speak to those I care for, and God answered my plea." Then Sanson said that specifically in his case it took eight hours for him to become lucid again. (Second Part, Chapter II, Section I, questions 2 and 4).
127. Kardec asked Sanson if at death there is any painful sensation. "But certainly yes - said the Spirit - because life is but a continued series of pain, of which death is the complement. There is a violent rupture, as if the Spirit has to make a superhuman effort to escape from its enclosure, effort that absorbs the whole being and makes him lose the knowledge of his destination." Kardec complemented, "This case is not general, since experience shows that many Spirits lose consciousness before death. In those that reach a certain degree of dematerialization, detachment operates effortlessly." (Second Part, Chapter II, section II, question 4.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. What does Spiritism recommend to improve our soul and suppress the bad tendencies brought from the past?
If you wish to purify yourself, repress your bad tendencies, and master your passions, it is necessary to give up your immediate benefits in favor of the future. It is not enough for you to believe, but you have to understand, to be able to connect to the spiritual life, drive all your aspirations in this direction, and prefer the spiritual life to earthly life. We must live life in accordance to reason, logic, common sense, and the concept that we have of the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of God. From this point of view, Spiritism is, by providing an unshakeable faith, and considering all the other philosophical doctrines that we know the one that has a more powerful influence. (Heaven and Hell, Second Part, Chapter I, section 14.)
B. There is only one means to shorten the suffering of newly disembodied Spirits. What is it?
Repentance is the only way to shorten suffering. It becomes easier through a sincere prayer, which causes a faster breakdown of the perispirit fluid, as well as through the evocation too, if conducted with wisdom and prudence, with words of kindness and comfort, thus, fighting the numbness of the Spirit, helping him to become lucid, and if he is a sufferer, guide him to repentance. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter I, section 15.)
C. What happened to Sanson in the last moments of his bodily existence?
Sanson himself, in a post-mortem message, said he was lucid until the last moment. When he could not make use of his lucidity, he could sense it. All his life unfolded in his memory and his last thought, his last prayer, was that, once in the spiritual plane, he could communicate psychically. (Ibid, Second Part - SANSON, Chapter II, section I, questions 7 and 8.)
D. How do happy Spirits face death and what is their opinion about happiness on Earth?
They view it with no fear. In Sanson's case, he found himself surrounded by numerous, good and faithful friends and they radiated an unparalleled joy. "What I saw cannot be said in the language of men," said Sanson. He added, "Happiness, as you understand it, is nothing but fiction. Live wisely, holy, by practicing charity and love, and you will deserve the pleasures and feelings that the greatest of poets would not know to describe." (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter II - SANSON, section I, question 9, and section II, question 8.)
