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. Does old age also affect the Spirits?
B. How can we ease the evil in us? Does God reward goodness?
C. Does suffering always come from atonement?
D. Do friends welcome us from beyond the grave?
Reading Text
151. Van Durst, eighty years old, disembodied in Antwerp, joyfully speaks of his new, bright and full of happiness life, which he found in the spiritual world and says that compared to this, the greatest happiness in our planet is worthless. (Second Part, Chapter II, Van Durst.)
152. Sixdeniers, a good man, killed in an accident, said to have remained long after death without knowing who he was. However, with the grace of God and the help of those around him, when the light came, it flooded his Spirit. (Second Part, Chapter II, Sixdeniers.)
153. Kardec asked if he was happy when he entered the Spiritual world. "No, I had to pay the human debt," said Sixdeniers. "I had to atone for the indifference to my Creator, but His mercy took into account the insignificant good I did, the pain that I suffered resigned, despite suffering, and His righteousness, whose balance men will never understand, so benevolently and lovingly weighed the good, that the bad quickly extinguished. "(Second Part, Chapter II, Sixdeniers.)
154. Upon talking to the suffering Spirit of Valerie, the Encoder said, "It is a mistake to repel these Spirits. We must look at them like beggars asking for alms. It is an unhappy Spirit that the good ones send, to be educated. Thus, we will benefit from all the happiness that results from a good deed, and there is nothing better than to regenerate a soul, relieving its suffering. Often, this task is arduous and it would certainly be better to always receive fine communications, talk to chosen Spirits, but if we only consider our own satisfaction, or if we repudiate these cases, than we shall not attract the protection of the good Spirits". (Second Part, Chapter II, Sixdeniers note Kardec.)
155. Dr. Demeure was a homeopathy doctor extremely dedicated to doing good. Five days after he died, he said, "Death brought a deep sleep they call lethargy, but my thinking was awake. I shook off the deadly torpor, caused by death, jumped up, and made the trip. How happy I am! I am no older or sick. The body was just a cover. Now I am young and beautiful. The Spirits are eternally beautiful and young and their hair does not become gray with time." (Second Part, Chapter II, Dr. Demeure.)
156. "It is three days now that I have disembodied, said Mrs. Foulon, and I feel I am an artist, my aspirations, pertaining to the ideal of artistic beauty, were nothing more than the intuition of faculties acquired in former lives and in my last incarnation." In the same communication, she says that her impaired sight improved after her death and allowed her to see splendid horizons. (Second Part, Chapter II, The Widow Foulon, section I.)
157. Ms. Foulon, addressing Boudet Amelie, Allan Kardec's wife, said, "Believe me, the dead are happier than the living, and to mourn them is to doubt the Spiritism truth. Be assured that we will meet again. If I left before, it was because my mission had come to an end, and each one has theirs on Earth." "We all have evil tendencies to which we obey, which is a supreme law and it proves the faculty of free will. So be forgiving and good, my friend, two feelings we mutually lack in the visible and invisible world." (Second Part, Chapter II, Widow Foulon, section I.)
158. In her following message, Ms. Foulon described her detachment from the physical body, "I suffered, but the Spirit overcame the material suffering of the detachment itself. After the last breath, I found myself like as if fainting, unaware of my state, not thinking about anything, a vague drowsiness that was not quite the sleep of the body nor the soul awakening. So I stayed like this for a long time, and then, as if leaving a long syncope, I slowly awoke in the middle of brothers I had never seen before." (Second Part, Chapter II, Widow Foulon, section II.)
159. Buried in a common grave in the cemetery of Montmartre, Antonio Cousteau, who had been a member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, told through one of the mediums of the Society, within the grave itself, before it was closed, "Oh! I did not die, now I live the true life, the eternal life! The burial of the poor has no large processions or demonstrations of pride by their grave... In compensation, believe me, there is a huge crowd here, and good Spirits have accompanied, together with you, the body lying there stretched." (Second Part, Chapter II, Antonio Cousteau.)
160. Dr. Vignal, former member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, who died in March 1865, reported four days after his death, "The separation was quick, more than I could have hoped for if considering my little merit. I was effectively aided and the somnambulist gave me a very clear idea of the phenomenon of separation, so I insisted on it." He added, "I left the body completely when it fell to the ground, and here I am with you." (Second Part, Chapter II, Dr. Vignal.)
161. Died at the age of 20, Victor Lebufle said he was overjoyed with his return to the spiritual life. He had worked hard to support himself and his mother, and still suffered with a painful illness. After his death he said, "Ah! My friends, life is painful and difficult, when you do not have in mind its purpose, but I tell you, in fact, that when you come here to us, if you follow God's law, you will be far rewarded, beyond the sufferings and merits, which you may have acquired for afterlife." (Second Part, Chapter II, Victor Lebufle.)
162. Lady Anais Gourdon died in 1860. She said to be very happy after her death, and questioned by Kardec, she stated that her relatives could help her, by stopping crying because they know "I'm not lost at all for them." "I hope, said Mrs. Gourdon, that my memory is soft and sweet to them. I lived, as a flower on Earth and nothing sad should be in this transition." (Second Part, Chapter II, Lady Anais Gourdon).
163. Commenting on Lady Gourdon's message, Kardec says, "The wings of angels, archangels, seraphim, which are pure Spirits, are evidently only an attribute imagined by men to give an idea of how quickly they move, since their ethereal nature dispenses them from any help to move through space. However, they may appear to men with this accessory to correspond to their imagination, in the same way Spirits can have an earthly appearance in order to be recognized." (Second Part, Chapter II, Lady Anais Gourdon, Kardec's notation).
Answers to the proposed questions
A. Does old age also affect the Spirits?
No. In the case of Van Durst, who died at the age of 80, after the first moments, there was no old age; no kind of difficulty, there was nothing to embarrass him. Here are his words, "Here we live in the open, walking with boldness, having before us such beautiful horizons that we hasten to see them." (Heaven and Hell, Part Second, Chapter II, Van Durst.)
B. How can we ease the evil in us? Does God reward goodness?
To forgive a sin is one of the most powerful ways of mitigating evil. To exercise forgiveness and the practice of good are important in the process of moral improvement. The one who practices good and faithfully follows the law of God receives, yes, a just reward, which will go far beyond suffering and the merit which we think we are entitled to. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter II, A Russian doctor, last question, and Victor Lebufle.)
C. Does suffering always come from atonement?
No. Not always, the embittered sufferings on earth are atonement. There are Spirits who, fulfilling the Lord's will, come down to Earth and are happy to go through evils that would be an atonement for others, but for them are only trials. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter II, Victor Lebufle, note by the medium's Guide.)
D. Do friends welcome us from beyond the grave?
Yes, Gontran Maurice, whose parents were still incarnate, said his grandfather came to receive him, opened his arms, and embraced him tightly to his chest. According to him, the crowd of other people who accompanied him, had happy faces and well came Gontran with grace and sweetness. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter II, Maurice Gontran.)
