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Once again, with some concern, we find ourselves forced to go public to defend the victims of these disasters and their families, as well as Spiritism, from the true absurdities uttered by certain irresponsible mouths. This time, the victims of this terrible disaster related to the floods in Rio Grande do Sul did not escape:
In other words: the idea, for these individuals careless, is that the people who lost their lives or who suffered the effects of the floods, are guilty Spirits, involved with the Farrapos War and who, now, would be “paying their debts” through this suffering. Terrible thought, lacking charity, logic and rationality, uttered by individuals who are very lacking in the true knowledge of Spiritism! Do they forget that many of the soldiers involved in all the battles didn't even want to be there? That they were forced to kill in order not to die?
We have already talked about this topic several times, directing the reader to appreciate the articles
- The War between Israel and Palestine and Spiritism
- Law of action and reaction, law of return, karma: why do we suffer, according to Spiritism?
- The Petrópolis disaster from the point of view of Spiritism: collective rescue?
- The truth about the law of Cause and Effect: a scientific axiom
Here we limit ourselves to reinforcing that is part of our evolutionary stage, incarnated on this planet, being subject to natural calamities, which affect the good and the bad, without distinction, causing changes, learning, etc. and that, as demonstrated in the articles cited, our relationship with God is not one of debit and credit, error and punishment, etc.
It is worth recovering, here, the important and clear questions on the topic, according to The Spirits’ Book:
737. To what end does God hurt humanity through destructive scourges?
“To make it progress faster. Haven't we already said that destruction is a necessity for the moral regeneration of Spirits, who, in each new existence, move up a step on the scale of improvement? I need to see the objective, so that the results can be appreciated. Only from your personal point of view do you appreciate them; hence why you classify them as scourges, due to the harm they cause you. These subversions, however, are often necessary so that a better order of things can emerge more quickly and so that what would have required many centuries can be accomplished in a few years.” (744.)
738. To achieve the improvement of humanity, couldn't God use other means than destructive scourges?
“Yes, and he employs them daily, since he has given each one the means to progress through the knowledge of good and evil. Man, however, does not take advantage of these means. It is necessary, therefore, that he be punished in his pride and that his weakness be made to be felt.”
The) - But both the good and the wicked man succumb to these scourges. Will this be fair?
“During life, man refers everything to his body; however, he thinks differently after death. Now, as we have said, the life of the body is very little. A century in your world is nothing more than a lightning in eternity. Therefore, nothing is the suffering of a few days or a few months, about which you complain so much. They represent teaching that is given to you and that will serve you in the future. Spirits, which pre-exist and survive everything, form the real world (85). These are the children of God and the object of all their solicitude. Bodies are mere disguises with which they appear in the world. On the occasion of great calamities that decimate men, the spectacle is similar to that of an army whose soldiers, during the war, had their uniforms damaged, torn, or lost. The general cares more about his soldiers than about their uniforms.”
B) - But that doesn't mean they are no longer victims of these scourges.
“If you considered life for what it is, and how little it represents in relation to infinity, you would give less importance to it. In another life, these victims will find ample compensation for their sufferings, if they know how to bear them without murmuring.”
Whether death comes from a scourge, or from a common cause, no one stops dying as long as the hour of departure has struck. The only difference, in the case of a scourge, is that a greater number leave at the same time.
If, through thought, we could rise to contemplate all of humanity and embrace it as a whole, these terrible scourges would seem to us to be no more than passing storms in the destiny of the world.
739. Are destructive scourges useful from a physical point of view, despite the harm they cause?
"He has; conditions in a region sometimes change. But in many cases, the good that results from them is only experienced by future generations.”
740. Aren't scourges also moral tests for man, tests that confront them with the most distressing needs?
“Scourges are tests that give man the opportunity to exercise his intelligence, to demonstrate his patience and resignation before the will of God, and that offer him the opportunity to manifest his feelings of abnegation, disinterest and love for others, if not is dominated by selfishness.”
We reinforce again: Spiritism demonstrates that there is no karma, law of return, punitive God, etc. We offer our prayers for all the victims of these tragedies, we declare our perplexity at those who are deliberately making it difficult the rescue work, carried out by citizens, and we ask God to enlighten the thoughts of those who mock the tragedy or wish harm on others, as the path to good will be theirs costly.
Our sincere condolences to the fatal victims of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul and to those who lost everything. May they never lose sight of what true good is, the face of which we have seen in the attitudes of the citizens acting there.
Reading Recommendations (Books)
- Free PDFs by Kardec – https://bit.ly/3sXXBxk
- Autonomy – The Untold History of Spiritism: https://amzn.to/3PIvbyy
- Allan Kardec's Legacy: https://amzn.to/3RIn2gv
- Final point – the reunion with spiritualism with Allan Kardec: https://amzn.to/48PLaE7
- Neither Heaven nor Hell – The Laws of the Soul According to Spiritism: https://amzn.to/3F2voYO
- Genesis – Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism (unadulterated): Free PDF or https://amzn.to/3RM91hF
- Heaven and Hell: Or divine justice according to Spiritism (unadulterated): Free PDF or https://amzn.to/3ZGrcal
- Spiritist Revolution. Allan Kardec's forgotten theory: https://amzn.to/3t7HIUH
- Mesmer. The denied science of animal magnetism: https://amzn.to/3PYc1X2
- The Book of Mediums: https://amzn.to/3PDNTHK
- The Spirits' Book: https://amzn.to/3QkcFx9
- Spiritist Magazine – complete collection: https://amzn.to/48Uxh7s
- Practical Instructions on Spiritist Manifestations: https://amzn.to/3QiR8Gc
- Spiritism in its Simplest Expression: https://amzn.to/3M6fXT5
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In my opinion, Spiritism or Kardecism does rescue the concept of Karma, from Indian religious philosophy. In fact, if someone studies the different philosophies of India, they will see that Kardecism made “a copy” of Indian teaching, but adapted it to Western concepts, from the time of its French elaboration. I suggest reading historical and scientific research on religion to see this.
Karma is not something punitive, it is just a feedback mechanism. If you, in previous lives, accumulate good actions, you bring with you a type of “positive Karma”, that is, in your current life you may be enjoying this energetic charge from past lives. If you had bad actions, that is, your actions caused harm to others or to Life itself (nature, for example), you accumulated “negative Karma”, which sooner or later must be recovered in the current or future life.
The concept of Karma is that every action performed (cause) will return to the individual (consequence), and this is a form of learning – it is not punitive – and also a mechanism that keeps us on the wheel of reincarnations in this world.
The Spiritist logic of practicing charity is a “basic” teaching for individuals to accumulate “positive Karma” and avoid “negative Karma”.
In order to no longer incarnate on the material plane of Earth, there can no longer be a “balance of Karma, whether positive or negative, and this presupposes actions in life that go beyond the duality of good or evil which, as very few achieve in this world, is more It is fruitful to promote the teaching of “good deeds” to current humanity.
Cristiane, this is not true. The essence of Spiritism is autonomy, not heteronomy. Charity, for example, is not used to accumulate anything, as true charity is that which expects absolutely nothing in return, which is not done out of interest, but rather out of moral duty. To no longer incarnate on Earth, there is no need to have any balance, but rather to have achieved enough development so that it is no longer necessary to carry out tests and expiations. True charity, well understood, is practiced by Spirits even though they are still undeveloped, who will still need many incarnations on Earth or on planets like ours, but who, even so, choose good over attachment.
The idea of a law of return is also false, as we have already explained in the articles highlighted in the text. We refer the dear reader to the study of the work “Autonomy – The Untold Story of Spiritism“, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo
I also didn't understand that there was no karma…. and the law of return is much talked about in spiritualism, what you sow, you reap! I really didn't understand!
Ivy, see the article mentioned in the text and you will be able to understand better. These ideas are false, they are distortions of true ideas. The only thing that exists is action and consequence, whether the consequence is good or bad. If it is bad, the individual can choose to learn from the result, correct mistakes and not get attached, or he can choose to get attached and repeat the mistake, because he enjoys his false ideas. This is where acquired imperfections, evil, arise: through the separation of good. The individual who moves away from good stagnates and suffers, until he decides, by his will, to recognize his deviation and understand the path back to good, through tests aimed at detachment. He understands? So, seen this way, yes, he who plants the false idea, who plants attachment, who plants evil, will reap difficulties and moral suffering, but not necessarily the same thing he sowed. I suggest you study the book O Céu e o Inferno, by Editora FEAL (corresponding to the original, unadulterated version) which you can download by clicking on here.
If there is no law of return, then it doesn't matter if people do evil. If you don't redeem in this life, will your mistake be forgotten? And that?
No, Emi. It's like this: the Spirit can choose to cling to the error, repeating it. Some, because of conscience, but soon suffer remorse. Some, however, become so attached to imperfections that they lose the capacity for remorse, and may continue to repeat the mistake, doing evil, for some time. However, they are not happy and do not feel fulfilled, deep down. Sooner or later, however, conscience wakes up and remorse appears, remorse being the true cause of great moral pain, as the individual recognizes that he made a mistake and blames himself for it. This, therefore, will be the inevitable result for all who do evil. Remorse, however, is not yet repentance, and the Spirit continues to suffer morally until it repents and decides to return to good, through the choice of atonement, which are the tests aimed at overcoming the imperfection acquired by will. From that moment on, remorse ceases, as understanding the path to follow puts the Spirit back on the path of good. This is what we can understand, so far, about reading O Céu e o Inferno, from the publisher FEAL, corresponding to Kardec's original, unadulterated edition (download for free here: https://bit.ly/3vVYQhu).