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. Can someone, using his will power, delay the separation of the soul and the body?
B. How do we classify pain and resignation?
C. What happens after death with moneylenders, selfish, evil, and hardened heart Spirits?
D. Considering our future eternal life, what should our attitude be regarding our material goods?
Reading Text
174. Kardec asked Cardon if he was dead when the first crisis occurred. "Yes, and no, when the Spirit left the body, the body came to an end too. However, when it returned and took over the body again, life came back and it was as if the body had just gone through a transition, as if it were sleeping," answered Cardon, who felt then the ties that bound him to the body. (Second Part, Chapter III, Cardon, medical doctor.)
175. Speaking about his condition in the spiritual world, the former doctor said that, "The pain overburdens in this world, but it strengthens us if we consider the spiritual future. God took into account my prayers and my deep belief in Him; I am firmly on the path of perfection and will arrive to the point I was allowed." "I ask all of mine to believe in a powerful, just, and unchangeable God. I ask them to believe in the prayer that comforts and relieves, and in the charity, that is the purest practice of human incarnation. I ask you to remember that we can also share the very little we own, since the mite of the poor is the most worthy in the eyes of God, who knows that a poor gives a lot, even if he gives very little." (Second Part, Chapter III, Cardon, doctor.)
176. The experience of Mrs. Anna Belle-Ville, died at the age of 35, after a cruel illness, gives us many lessons. First, the value of suffering when endured with resignation. Because of this, Anna said she was cured, although she still needed the help of prayers. Second, becoming aware that her illness and sufferings were atonement from the past, being, therefore, an additional debt, which was then paid. Third, she recognized the importance of the Spiritist Doctrine. "When I return to Earth - she said - I will be a Spiritist. What a sublime science! I often watch your meetings and to the advice that you give. If I, when on Earth, could understand them, my sufferings would have been softened." (Second Part, Chapter III, Mrs. Anna Belle-Ville.)
177. Commenting on Anna Belle-Ville's case Kardec teaches us, "The soul's progress in the spiritual life is (...) a fact evidenced by experience. The bodily life is the practice of this progress, the demonstration of its resolutions, the melting pot in which it refines. Considering that the soul evolves after death, its fate cannot be irrevocably determined, since a definitive establishment of the fate would be, as we have already said, the denial of progress." (Second Part, Chapter III, Mrs. Anna Belle-Ville, note at end of the Chapter.)
178. "After death - says the Spirit of Jorge - selfish, evil, and hardened heart Spirits at once have a cruel doubt as to their fate, in the present and in the future. They look around and see nothing on which they can practice their wickedness. This despairs them because to be solitary and passive is unbearable to evil Spirits." Such Spirits see the prostration of the weak and suffering Spirits, and they cling to them using the recollection of their past faults, which they continuously put into action by reminding them of their foolish actions. (Second Part, Chapter IV, The Punishment.)
179. They are not satisfied with this. Like hungry vultures, they cast themselves back on Earth and look for a soul among men, who will give them easy access to temptations. "Finding it - says Jorge - they take possession of this soul and start praising greed and try to quench his faith in God, until finally, grasping that spirit and seeing it submitted, they extend the fatality of their contagion to all who approach." (Part Second, Chapter IV, The Punishment.)
180. According to George, the evil Spirit, in the exercise of his anger, is almost happy, suffering only when he stops operating, or when the good triumphs over evil. Centuries go by and all of a sudden, he senses that the darkness will involve him, the circle of his action is restricted, and he starts feeling remorse. (Second Part, Chapter IV, The Punishment.)
181. He will feel emptiness around and inside him. The moment comes when he must atone, and that is when reincarnation appears threatening to him, and he sees as in a mirror the terrible ordeals that await him. He wants to retreat, but goes forward and falls into the precipice of life, until the veil of ignorance falls over his eyes. (Second Part, Chapter IV, The Punishment.)
182. Dead at 21, Novel appeared to the psychic who had known him in life, and told him of his suffering after the death of his body. "My Spirit, attached to the body by material links, had great difficulty to disengage itself, and this was already a great distress," he said. The awareness of his condition and the revelation of his misconduct, in all his incarnations, suddenly struck him, while a harsh light illuminated the innermost secret of his soul. (Second Part, Chapter IV, Novel.)
183. After describing his troubles, Novel said, "A mortal can prejudge the material tortures through the chills of his flesh. However, his fragile pains, softened by hope, attenuated by recreation, or killed by forgetfulness, will never give him the idea of the anguish of a soul that suffers relentlessly, without hope, and without repentance." (Second Part, Chapter IV, Novel.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. Can someone, using his will power, delay the separation of the soul and the body?
Yes, in given conditions, an incarnate Spirit can extend his bodily existence in order to accomplish necessary instructions, or by him judged as so. This is a concession that can be granted, but this delay is very brief, since man cannot alter the order of natural laws, and return to life "sua cursorium" when it ended. It is just a momentary restraining. It is necessary to clarify, however, that the fact is possible, but it does not depend of each one's sole will to prolong life in this manner. As a trial or in the interest of a mission to be concluded, the weakened organs can receive an additional supplement of vital fluid allowing the body to extend for a few moments the material manifestation of thought. These are exceptional cases and are not a rule. (Heaven and Hell, Second Part, Chapter III, Mrs. Anna Belle-Ville, answer given by St. Louis)
B. How do we classify pain and resignation?
Resignation softens the pain and turns suffering into something useful. Due to this, the person who is suffering feels less pain. On the contrary, lack of resignation sterilizes suffering. Thus, suffering will have to restart all over gain. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter III, Cardon and Mrs. Anna Belle-Ville. See Chapter VIII, An ambitious wise man.)
C. What happens after death with moneylenders, selfish, evil, and hardened heart Spirits?
After death, the selfish, evil, and hardened heart Spirits feel a cruel doubt as to their fate, in the present and in the future. They look around and see nothing on which they can practice their wickedness. This despairs them because to be solitary and passive is unbearable to evil Spirits. They do not raise their eyes to the Superior Spirits. They only consider the prostration of the weak, and suffering Spirits, and they cling to them using the recollection of their past faults, which they continuously put into action by reminding them of their foolish actions. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter IV, initial part of "The Punishment" and Francis Riquier.)
D. Considering our future eternal life, what should our attitude be regarding our material goods?
Man must use the goods put at his disposal as a trustee in a sober way. He must consider his life in eternity, therefore, giving up material pleasures. The main purpose of his food should be only to maintain his vitality. Luxury should just restrict itself to the needs of his position. His tastes and inclinations must submit to a healthy guideline. If he does not follow these rules, he becomes inclined to matter instead of purifying and cleansing himself spiritually. Human passions are chains that cut into his flesh and thus he should not give them shelter. Incarnates do not know what they have to pay for all this when they return to their homeland. (Ibid, Second Part, Chapter IV, Reproaches of a Bohemian.)
