Obligations of Spiritism

Spiritism is an essentially moral science. Therefore, those who claim to be his followers cannot, without committing a serious inconsistency, evade the obligations he imposes.

(Spiritist Magazine, Paris, April 1866 ─ Medium: Mrs. B…)

[emphasis added; read to the end]

These obligations are of two orders.

The first concerns the individual who, aided by intellectual clarity that doctrine spreads, he can better understand the value of each of his acts, better probe all the folds of his conscience, better appreciate the infinite goodness of God, who does not want the death of the sinner but that he convert and live, and who, in order to leave him the possibility of rising from his falls, gave him the long series of successive existences, in each of which, bearing the weight of his past faults, he was able to acquire new knowledge and new strength, making him avoid evil and do what is consistent with justice and charity. What can be said of the one who, thus clarified about his duties towards God, towards his brothers, remains proud, greedy, selfish? Doesn't it seem that the light blinded him because he wasn't prepared to receive it? Since then he walks in darkness, although he is in the midst of light. He is only a spiritist in name. The fraternal charity of those who really see must strive to cure him of this intellectual blindness. But for many of those who resemble him, the light that the tomb brings will be necessary, because their hearts are too attached to material pleasures and their spirits are not mature to receive the truth. In a new incarnation you will understand that the inferior planets, like the Earth, are nothing more than a kind of mutual school, where the soul begins to develop its faculties, its aptitudes, to then apply them to the study of the great principles of order, justice, love and harmony that govern the relationships of souls among themselves and the functions they play in the direction of the Universe. They will feel that, called to such a high dignity as that of becoming a messenger of the Most High, the human soul must not debase itself, degrade itself in contact with the filthy pleasures of voluptuousness; from the ignoble temptations of avarice that deprive some children of God of the enjoyment of the goods that he has given to all; they will understand that selfishness, born of pride, blinds the soul and makes it violate the rights of justice, of humanity, since it engenders all the evils that make the Earth a place of pain and atonement. Instructed by the hard lessons of adversity, your spirit will be tempered by reflection, and your heart, after being grated by pain, will become kind and charitable. This is how what appears to us to be evil is sometimes necessary to bring back the hardened. These poor retards, regenerated by suffering, enlightened by that interior light which we can call the baptism of the Spirit, will carefully watch over themselves, that is, over the movements of their heart and the use of their faculties, in order to direct them according to the laws of justice and fraternity. They will understand that they are not only obliged, themselves, to improve themselves, a selfish calculation that prevents the achievement of the objective aimed at by God, but that the second order of obligations of the spiritist, which necessarily follows from the first and completes it, is that of example. , which is the best means of propagation and renewal.

Indeed, he who is convinced of the excellence of the principles he is taught and which, if his conduct conforms to them, will bring him lasting happiness, cannot, if he is truly animated by that fraternal charity which is in the very essence of Spiritism, but wanting them to be understood by all men. Hence the moral obligation to conform your conduct to your belief and to be a living example, a model, as Christ was for Humanity.

You, feeble sparks from the eternal focus of divine love, certainly cannot claim such a vast radiance as that of the Word of God incarnated on Earth, but each one, in your sphere of action, can spread the benefits of good example. You can make virtue loved, surrounding it with the charm of that constant benevolence that attracts, captivates and finally shows that doing good is an easy thing; which generates the intimate happiness of the conscience that has placed itself under its law, since it is the fulfillment of the divine will that made us say, through His Christ: Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now, Spiritism is nothing but the true application of the principles of morality taught by Jesus, because it is only with the aim of making it understood by all, so that through it all progress more quickly, that God allows this universal manifestation. of the Spirit, coming to explain to you what seemed obscure to you and to teach you all the truth. It comes, like Christianity well understood, to show man the absolute need for his interior renewal by the very consequences of each of his acts, of each of his thoughts, because no fluidic emanation, good or bad, escapes from the heart or mind. man's brain without leaving an imprint somewhere. The invisible world that surrounds you is for you this book of life where everything is inscribed with incredible fidelity, and the Scales of Divine Justice it is nothing but a figure that reveals each of your actions, each of your feelings. It is, in a way, the weight that weighs down your soul and prevents it from rising, or that brings balance between good and evil.

Happy is he whose feelings come from a pure heart. He spreads around him a soft atmosphere that makes virtue loved and attracts good spirits; its power of radiation is the greater the more humble it is, and consequently the more detached from the material influences that attract the soul and prevent it from progressing.

The obligations imposed by Spiritism are, therefore, of an essentially moral nature., because they are a consequence of belief; each is a judge and party in his own cause; but the intellectual clarity it brings to those who really want get to know yourself and working on its improvement are such as to frighten the faint-hearted, and that is why it is rejected by so many people. Others try to reconcile the reform that their reason shows them to be a necessity with the demands of today's Society. Hence a heterogeneous mixture, a lack of unity that makes the current epoch a transitory state.. It is very difficult for your poor corporeal nature to strip itself of its imperfections to put on the new man, that is, the man who lives according to the principles of justice and harmony desired by God. With persevering efforts, however, you will get there, because the obligations imposed on the conscience, when sufficiently clarified, have more force than human laws based on the constraint of a religious obscurantism that does not bear examination will ever have. But if, thanks to the lights from above, you are more educated and understand more, you must also be more tolerant and use only reasoning as a means of propagation, because every sincere belief is respectable.. If your life is a beautiful model in which everyone can find good examples and solid virtues, where dignity is combined with a gracious amenity, rejoice, because you will have understood, at least in part, what Spiritism obliges.

LOUIS OF FRANCE (Saint Louis)

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The problem with the current idea of “intimate reform” is not a matter of words, but that it has become a central point, as if the individual’s mission were to improve themselves, only. Every day, it is demonstrated that the true spiritist, because he understood the light that opened to him before the spiritual horizons, improves himself in a humble way, helping his neighbor with the same humility, not punishing his conscience with punches and knives. . The true face of good is cooperation, not dispute. The highest, serves.

Luís begins the text by stating: Spiritism is a science and, as such, spreads intellectual clarity. Spiritism serves knowledge, which is a necessary part for the individual's progress. But this is not enough: example is necessary, and we have several proofs of this in humanity, Christ being the most expressive of them. He, who came to wash our feet, demonstrated: the highest, serves, giving himself the selfless example.

In the end, Luís points out: if we are better educated, it is thanks to the “lights from on high”, not because we don't have the personal effort, but because, without the charitable cooperation of the one who is higher, we wouldn't learn! By the way, those who enter into the false idea and isolate themselves due to selfishness and pride, leave the possibility of this learning, for some time. This is the truest possible face of Creation, as Spiritism demonstrates! The dispute, the idea that the world is one of the smartest, selfishness, pride, in short, are all false conceptions, linked to false human ideas, which lead the being to the abyss that imprison him and from which it is only his effort. in escaping. Absolutely, these are ideas that do not represent the truth about Creation or relationships as Spirits!

This is a communication that must be read, reread, discussed and, who knows, placed at the head of the table.