In this issue we continue the study of the book Posthumous Works, published after Allan Kardec disembodied and containing texts written by him. The present work is based on the translation made by Dr. Guillon Ribeiro, published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation.
Questions for discussion
21. Is the survival of the soul after death a fact?
22. What determines the happiness or unhappiness of the soul after death?
23. Was it God who created all things that are not the work of men?
24. How did God create the Universe?
25. The material worlds had their beginning. Will they have an end?
26. How did God create the intelligent beings we call Spirits?
27. What is the ultimate goal of all Spirits?
28. What role do the Spirits play in Nature?
29. What is the difference between spiritual life and bodily life?
30. Is the Spirit’s incarnation necessary for its progress?
Answers to the proposed questions
21. Is the survival of the soul after death a fact?
Yes. Spiritism shows us that the soul survives the body and retains its individuality after death. The survival of the soul is proven in an irrefutable and tangible way through the Spiritist communications, and their individuality is shown by the character and separate qualities. Besides this intelligent evidence, there is also material proof of visual manifestations or appearances, which are so frequent and authentic that we cannot contradict them. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
22. What determines the happiness or unhappiness of the soul after death?
Spiritism teaches that the soul is happy or unhappy after death according to the good or evil it practiced during its life. Atonement and future enjoyments are materially proved by the communications with the souls of those, who lived and who come to tell us how happy or unhappy they are, the very nature of their joys or their sorrows, and what caused them. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
23. Was it God who created all things that are not the work of men?
Yes. This proposition is indeed closely linked to the evidence of the existence of God. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
24. How did God create the Universe?
About this Kardec was clear: We do not know. Based on the effects we see, we can go back to certain causes, but there is a limit that makes it impossible for us to carry it forward, and at the same time it would be a waste of time wanting to go beyond it. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
25. The material worlds had their beginning. Will they have an end?
Yes. Since the different worlds are the results of the agglomeration and transformation of matter, like all bodies they must have had a beginning and an end, according to laws that, for now, are unknown to us. But Science can, to some extent, establish the laws of their formation and go back to their original state. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
26. How did God create the intelligent beings we call Spirits?
The origin and how the Spirits were created is unknown to us. We only know that they are created simple and ignorant, i.e., without knowledge and awareness of good and evil, but perfectible, with a fitness equality to acquire and to know everything in time. In the beginning they experience a kind of childhood, without free will and without being fully aware of their existence. As the Spirit moves forward and leaves the starting point behind, ideas start developing as in a child, and with the ideas comes the free will, i.e. the freedom to do or not to do, to choose this or that option for their development, which is one of the essential attributes of the Spirit. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
27. What is the ultimate goal of all Spirits?
Achieving perfection of which the creature is susceptible; the result of this perfection is the enjoyment of supreme happiness, which is its consequence, and to which they arrive, more or less promptly, according to the use they make of their free will. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
28. What role do the Spirits play in Nature?
The Spirits are the agents of the Divine Power; they constitute the intelligent force of Nature and contribute to the fulfillment of the Creator's objectives aiming at the overall harmony of the Universe. To compete, as agents of the Divine Power in the work of the material worlds, the Spirits temporarily need a material body. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
29. What is the difference between spiritual life and bodily life?
Spiritual life is the normal life of the Spirit; it is eternal. Bodily life is transitory and fleeting. It is but a moment in eternity. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
30. Is the Spirit’s incarnation necessary for its progress?
Yes. The incarnation of the Spirits is in the laws of Nature; it is necessary for its progress and the fulfillment of God's works. Due to the work that their corporeal existence imposes on them, they refine their intelligence and acquire, by following God’s Law, the merits that will lead them to eternal happiness. The result is that by all contributing for the general work of Creation, the Spirits are therefore working for their own improvement. (Posthumous Works, Confession of Reasoned Spiritist Faith).
