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 praying at the grave help the Spirit's detachment?
B. What kind of repentance is more helpful and useful?
C. How does pride affect us?
D. Does a still disturbed Spirit understand how a psychic manifestation occurs?
Reading Text
184. August Michel died due to a fall from a carriage. He was rich, bohemian and very much enjoyed his material life. After his death, he was disturbed for a while. "I am uneasy not knowing what my future will be," he said in his first statement. "The pain I felt in my body is nothing compared to this agony. Pray and ask God to forgive me," he told the medium. (Second Part, Chapter IV, August Michel.)
185. Ten days later, August Michel said he was still in connection with his body: "Only with difficulty can I see where I am, my body is there, and why am I always there with it? Come and pray next to it, so that I can free myself of this cruel prison..." (Second Part, Chapter IV, August Michel.).
186. Nearly a month after the first manifestation, August Michel again begged the medium to pray beside his grave, since he was still very much disturbed. "It is necessary for you to go to that place and pray to the Lord for Him to forgive me," pleaded the Spirit. "I am aware that I could be more in peace, but I always end up by going back to the place where they deposited what belonged to me." The Spirit's request was carried out two months after his first message, and only then was he free from the agony in which he lived. (Second Part, Chapter IV, August Michel.)
187. A former bohemian, disembodied, wrote, "Human passions are like chains that cut into the flesh, therefore, do not shelter them. You know what it costs when we return to motherland!" And added, "Oh, practice good deeds and they will help you reach your place in the Space between you and eternity. They are like a bright mantle, and they hide your human evils. Surround yourself with charity and love - divine garments that last forever." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Reproaches of a Bohemian.)
188. Regarding the message from the former bohemian, the medium's Guide referred to the difficulties found in the spiritual life. This happens with men, inclined to a sensual life, who did not give the Spirit another activity besides the search of new pleasures: "The influence of matter follows them after death, and death does not put an end to their sensual appetites still being able to use their earthly limited vision to satisfy them. They never searched for spiritual nourishment; therefore, they lived in a vacuum, with no direction, no hope, living in anxiety like those who have no purpose and life in a desert with no limits." "The lack of spiritual thinking naturally causes the nullity of spiritual work after death, and because there are no means to satisfy the body, nothing will remain to content the Spirit." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Reproaches of a Bohemian.)
189. Lisbeth was rich, beautiful, and noble, but her pride was her downfall. She received from the medium's Guide the following advice: "Purify your hearts, be humble, love and help one another, without forgetting the source of all thanks, unlimited source in which all of us can quench our thirst, a fountain of living water that feeds us with eternal life and happiness." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Lisbeth.)
190. Prince Ouran's downfall was also due to his pride. When Kardec commented about Ouran's message, he explained that Spirits fail because they undertake tasks that exceed their willpower, which is a mistake. God only gives what one can handle. What lacks in them is willpower and this only depends of them. "With willpower - says Kardec - there are no vicious tendencies that cannot be tamed, but if we have pleasure in it, it is natural that we do not make efforts to triumph over them. Thus, only we are to blame for the consequences." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Prince Ouran.)
191. The medium's Guide, who received Prince Ouran's message, said that God is most just in His wisdom and takes into account the efforts of the creature to master his evil instincts. "Every victory over yourself, said the Entity, is another step you climb on the ladder that has one end on Earth and the other at the feet of the Supreme Judge." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Prince Ouran.)
192. The Spirit of Pascal Lavic, who drowned in the sea, when he was 49 years old, said he wandered for a long time, attached to his body on the ocean, "My Spirit only separated from my body after I recognized my faults and, even after that, I accompanied the body at a small distance in the ocean." Lavic informed that the prayers of his earthly friends cleansed all the confusion and uncertainty in which he was. (Second Part, Chapter IV, Pascal Lavic.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. Does praying at the grave help the Spirit's detachment?
Yes, this fact was proven by August Michel, who pleaded for a certain medium to pray over his grave. When this was done, he was free. The Spirit's insistence proved to be valid if we consider the strong ties that bound him to his body and the difficulty he was feeling to release himself, because of the material life he had lived on this Earth. A prayer at the grave causes a magnetic action much more powerful, which helps the detachment. Does the almost universal custom to pray next to the bodies not come from an unconscious intuition of such an effect? (Heaven and Hell, Second Part, Chapter IV, August Michel.)
B. What kind of repentance is more helpful and useful?
Repentance is useless when it is caused only by suffering. Repentance is only valid when one is heartbroken for having offended God, and strongly wishes to repair this situation. This is why repentance does not always cause the immediate release of the Spirit, but it only enables it, and that is all. However, it is necessary to prove the sincerity and firmness of the resolution, through new trials to remedy the wrongdoing. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter IV, Lisbeth.)
C. How does pride affect us?
Pride, the father of all moral imperfections, causes arrogance, tyranny, selfishness, and is, therefore, the source of all suffering that dominates us, due to the law of cause and effect that governs human fate. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter IV, Prince Ouran.)
D. Does a still disturbed Spirit understand how a psychic manifestation occurs?
No. A disturbed Spirit has no freedom of choice and is driven instinctive and attractively to the medium who shows a special aptitude for communications of this kind. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter IV, F. Bertin, 2nd message.)
