What does Spiritism say about pornography?
What does Spiritism have to say about pornography? This is a complicated subject, because it is not a subject that has been directly addressed by the Doctrine. To talk about this, we need to extrapolate knowledge and understanding that the Doctrine gives us.
Spiritism places, above all, freedom of conscience and autonomy. Let this be noted, as a result of the study of the Spiritist Doctrine in its moral and philosophical content.
Apart from this principle, we will verify in Spiritism, developing the thought of Rational Spiritualism, that man can acquire bad habits by repeating an act related to pleasure. This can become an imperfection, which becomes an addiction, of which the work of overcoming will cost the Spirit a lot, through the CONSCIOUS and AUTONOMOUS reincarnation effort.
Paul Janet talks about this in Little Elements of Morals, which I highly recommend reading (Click here For download):
20 Habits. – It is true that habits become, over time, almost irresistible. It is a frequently observed fact; but, on the one hand, if an inveterate habit is irresistible, the same is not true of a habit that begins; and thus man remains free to prevent the invasion of bad habits. That is why moralists advise us above all to watch the origin of our habits. “Be especially careful with the beginnings.”
The big problem with entering into materialistic habits – which are those that surpass physiological needs – is that, by developing attachments, not only will it be more difficult and painful for us to disconnect from matter at the moment of death, but we will also attract the “clouds of witnesses”. ”, Spirits also attached to such vices. Normally, this will lead us to live in a troubled and difficult spiritual and social context.
But look: there is no sin. There is an error. No one will be punished for making mistakes, nor for choosing, consciously, to cling to an addiction or any bad habit; however, the results of our choices can be harmful to us, which we can call punishment, which, at all, is not a deliberate imposition of God.
It should be noted that no one should be martyred by an imperfection or any bad habit to the point of getting sick. It takes little ant work, perhaps slow but constant, so as not to do like those who promise not to eat sweets in the new year, but, being a very heavy commitment, talk after the first few days, saying, then: “I am not strong is impossible. I will therefore eat whatever I want, whenever I want.” This figure, by the way, represents the exact image of the non-use of reason to contain instinct. Kardec, in A Genesis, adds:
The man who acted on instinct alone might be very good, but he would keep his intelligence dormant. He would be like a child who didn't leave the walkers and didn't know how to use his limbs. He who does not master his passions can be very intelligent, but at the same time very bad. Instinct annihilates itself; the passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.
“All men experience passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence of their previous existences, having freed themselves from this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they achieve it, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without needing to spell. It is as if there were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still convalescing and hesitates to walk; or like two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.”
Kardec, A Genesis, 4th edition — FEAL Publisher