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 happens to those who only think of themselves?
B. What does it mean to be in darkness?
C. What does a suicidal feel after death?
D. Why do many Spirits doubt their own disembodiment?
Reading Text
193. The case of F. Bertin, similar to the one of Pascal Lavic, shows that, after several days after his death, the Spirit still experienced all the agonies of drowning. His confusion was obvious. Sometimes he said to be alive, and sometimes he spoke of his death. "All this inconsistency - says Kardec - shows his confusion, which is common in almost all violent deaths." (Part II, Chapter IV, F. Bertin).
194. Bertin mentioned in his message the true cause of his troubles. In his previous life, he had several victims put in sacs and tossed them overboard... (Part II, Chapter IV, F. Bertin.)
195. Francis Riquier was a bachelor and a miser. He remained attached to his money even after five years of his death. He did not think of himself as dead, therefore, he felt anxiety in a very cruel way, because he saw his property being shared by his heirs. (Part II, Chapter IV, Francis Riquier.).
196. Clara's case is an example of the people that only think of themselves. Here, you can also read about the spiritual condition of Felix, Clara's husband. "Felix had superficial ideas and feelings. He was violent due to his weakness and libertine because of his lightheadedness. Felix entered the spiritual world naked not only physically, but morally too. While reincarnated, he learnt nothing. Therefore, he has to start his work all over." "His present state, said Clara about her ex-husband, is the same as a child unable to fulfill its duties and lacking all protection." "Felix wanders terrified in this strange world where everything glows under the light of that God that he denied." (Part II, Chapter IV, Clara.)
197. When explaining Clara's case, St. Louis said that the perisprit shows a bright light that is a consequence of the activity and qualities of the soul. "It could be said that these qualities are for the perispiritual fluid as friction is for a match. The light intensity is proportional to the purity of the Spirit: the smallest moral imperfections diminish and weaken it. The light radiated by a Spirit will be stronger according to its development." (Part II, Chapter IV, Clara.)
198. There are inferior Spirits, who can see perfectly well and do not live in the dark. Kardec says this is a proof that, regardless of the Spirits' own light, they also receive an outside light. This light may sometimes lack according to circumstances. Therefore, Kardec arrives to the conclusion that a determined cause or a strange will originate this darkness, which is a special punishment from divine justice. (Part II, Chapter IV Clara.)
199. Then, Kardec asked St. Louis why it is easier to teach moral education to the disembodied than the embodied. The instructor explained that this teaching becomes easier according to the detachment of the flesh, especially if the Spirit has already acquired some development due to the trials it has gone through. (Part II, Chapter IV, Clara.)
200. Louvet-François Simon, suffered because he could not bear the misery he lived in, and he killed himself at age of 67. He threw himself from Francis I Tower, and his body was shattered on the rocks. Six years later, the Spirit still saw himself falling from the same tower. (Part II, Chapter V, Louvet-François Simon.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. What happens to those who only think of themselves?
Clara's testimony regarding this question is significant. She said, "Curse the hours of selfishness and laziness. I only thought of my well-being and forgot to practice charity and to give love. Damn the human interests, and the material concerns that blinded me! Now I regret the time I lost." Mentioning this case, St. Louis added, "Why was this woman so miserable? Did she commit some horrible crime? Did she steal or murder? No, she did nothing against the justice of men. Instead, she had fun, an earthly happiness, beauty, joys, flattery, she had everything she wanted, nothing was missing, and people said, "What a happy woman!" And they envied her. But, do you want to know? She was selfish, and had everything except a good heart. She did not violate the law of man, but of God, since she forgot the first virtue - charity. She only loved herself and now she finds no one who loves her and feels isolated, abandoned, helpless in space, where no one thinks of her or minds about her. This is her torment. Having only sought worldly pleasures, which now no longer exist, she feels empty. Since she sees nothing, this nothing seems eternal to her. She does not suffer physically, demons do not torment her, and this is not necessary, since she torments her own self, and this is still more painful to her, because if this happened even the demons would be beings occupying themselves with her. Selfishness was her joy on Earth. Well, she is still pursued by selfishness, like a worm that eats her heart up - her true demon." (Heaven and Hell, Part II, Chapter IV, Clara, items 2 and 4.)
B. What does it mean to be in darkness?
When we say that some Spirits are immersed in darkness, it should be inferred that it is like a real soul's night comparable to the intellectual obscurity of an idiot. It is an unawareness about everything that surrounds them, which is produced in either the presence, or absence, of the material light. It is the punishment of those, who doubted their destiny. Since they believed in nothing, the appearance of that nothing makes them suffer, because they perceive nothing around them, only darkness, which for the Spirits represents in short, the vacuum, the horror of the unknown... (Ibid, Part Two, Chapter IV, Clara, Study on communications about Clara, question to St. Louis and message signed by Clara.)
C. What does a suicidal feel after death?
Kardec asked a suicidal if he felt pain when his life extinguished. He replied, "Less pain than later." Such a state, according to St. Louis, overtakes suicide, because the Spirit of the suicidal - as a rule - is still attached to the body until the end of the life that was cut short. The disappointment that comes with it is, therefore, very strong. In the case of the suicide of Samaritan, he also experienced the agony of feeling the worms eating his body, a common state to suicide, although it does not presents itself in identical conditions, varying in duration and intensity according to the mitigating or aggravating circumstances of the fault. (Ibid, Part II, Chapter V, Suicidal of Samaritan.)
D. Why do many Spirits doubt their own disembodiment?
Doubt about death is very common in recently disembodied people, and especially for those who, during their life, did not elevate the soul over matter. It is a natural phenomenon that seems odd at first glance, but which can be explained naturally. If we ask an individual, for the first time in the state of somnambulism, he shall usually say no, and that is the logical answer: however, the question contains an inadequate term. In common language, the idea of sleep means the suspension of all sensitive faculties. The somnambulist, who thinks, sees, and feels, who is conscience of his freedom, does not believe to be sleeping and in fact, he is not sleeping considering the common meaning of the word. The same happens to the man who has just disembodied. For him death was the end of the being, and as the somnambulist, he sees, feels and talks and, therefore, does not consider himself dead. And this he will state until he acquires the knowledge of his new state. This illusion is always more or less painful, since it is never complete and may cause in the Spirit a great anxiety. (Ibid, Part II, Chapter V, the Samaritan's suicide, Kardec's note after question 18.)
