Family talks from beyond the grave – Suicide of an atheist

Paulo Degering R Jr
Black and white image of a bench in front of the sea. It represents the theme of the article - the suicide of an atheist - from the Revista Espírita of 1861
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Obtained from the Spiritist Magazine of February 1861

Mr. JB D…, evoked at the request of one of his relatives, was an educated man, but to the last degree imbued with materialistic ideas. He didn't believe in the soul or in God. He voluntarily drowned two years ago.

1. (Evocation).

─ I suffer! I'm a convict.

2. ─ We were asked to call you by one of your relatives, who wants to know your fate. Can you say whether this evocation is pleasant or painful?

─ Painful.

3. ─ Was your death voluntary?

─ Yes.

Observation: The Spirit writes with extreme difficulty. The handwriting is large, irregular, convulsive and almost illegible. At first he shows anger, breaks the pencil and tears the paper.

4. ─ Stay calm. We will pray to God for you.

─ I am forced to believe in God.

5. ─ What reason led you to destroy yourselves?

─ Boredom of life hopeless. 

Observation: Suicide is understood when life is hopeless. We want to escape unhappiness at all costs. With Spiritism the future unfolds and hope is legitimized. Suicide, then, has no objective; even more, it is recognized that by such means one cannot escape one evil except to fall into another one a hundred times worse. This is why Spiritism has already removed so many victims from voluntary death. Are those who seek, first and foremost, the moral and philosophical end in it, wrong and dreamers? Very guilty are those who, for scientific sophisms and in the supposed name of reason, They strive to honor the desperate idea, the source of so many evils and crimes, that everything ends with life. They will be responsible not only for their own mistakes, but for all the evils they have caused.

6. ─ You wanted to escape the vicissitudes of life. Did you achieve anything? Are you happier now?

─ Why doesn’t nothing exist?!

7. ─ Would you be kind enough to describe your situation to us as best you can?

─ I suffer from being forced to believe in everything I denied. My soul is as if in a brazier, horribly tormented.

8. ─ Where did the materialistic ideas you had in life come from?

─ In another existence I had been bad, and my Spirit was condemned to suffer the torments of doubt during my life. So, I killed myself.

Observation: There is a whole range of ideas here. We often ask ourselves how there can be materialists, since, having already passed through the spiritist world, we should have intuition about it. Now, it is precisely this intuition that is refused, as punishment, to certain Spirits who preserved their pride and did not repent of their faults. We must not forget that the Earth is a place of atonement. This is why it contains so many incarnated evil Spirits.

Note from me (Paulo): the word “punishment”, in French, can be read as “punishment”, which, according to Rational Spiritualism, from which Spiritism developed, is nothing more than the natural consequences of our mistakes. Thus, the very proud Spirit, as a result of this pride, is unable to keep the intuition of life in the world of Spirits, as it is too closed in on itself.

9. ─ When you drowned, what did you think would happen to you? What reflections did you make at that moment?

─ None. For me it was nothing. I saw later that having not exhausted my sentence, I would still suffer a lot.

10. ─ Are you now convinced of the existence of God, the soul and the future life?

─ Oh! I am terribly tormented by this!

11. ─ Have you searched your wife and your brother?

─ Oh! no!

12. ─ Why?

─ Why bring together our torments? We go into exile in misfortune and only come together in happiness. Alas!

Note from me (Paul): he must be saying that the suffering Spirit cannot escape its own sufferings, while the detached Spirit, working for good, becomes happy and meets with others in the same “tune”.

13. ─ Would you like to see your brother again, who we could call to your side?

─ No, no! I am really bad.

14. ─ Why don't you want us to call him?

─ He's not happy either.

15. ─ You fear his presence. However, could it not do you any good?

─ No. Later.

16. ─ Your relative asks if you attended your funeral and if you were satisfied with what he did at the time.

─ Yes.

17. ─ Do you want him to say something?

─ Please pray a little for me.

18. ─ It seems that in the society you frequent, some people share the opinions you had in life. Would you like to tell them something about it?

─ Oh! How unfortunate! May they believe in another life! That's what I can wish them for greater happiness. If they could understand my sad position, they would reflect a lot.

– Evocation of the previous brother, who professed the same ideas but did not commit suicide. Although unhappy, he is calmer. Your handwriting is clear and legible.

─ May the picture of our sufferings be a useful lesson for you, and persuade you that there is another life, in which we atone for our faults and our unbelief!

20. ─ Do you and your brother who we have just mentioned see each other?

─ No. He runs away from me.

21. ─ You are calmer than him. Could you give us a more accurate description of your sufferings?

─ On Earth, don’t your self-love and your pride suffer when you are forced to confess your error? Does your Spirit not revolt at the thought of humiliating yourself before someone who shows you that you are wrong? Then! What do you think the Spirit who throughout his entire existence has been convinced that nothing exists beyond himself and that he is right against everyone suffers? When, suddenly, he finds himself faced with the dazzling truth, he feels annihilated and humiliated. Added to this is the remorse of, for so long, having forgotten the existence of a God so good, so indulgent. Your condition is unbearable; finds neither calm nor rest; He will not find a little peace of mind except at the moment when holy grace, that is, the love of God, touches him, because pride takes hold of our poor Spirit in such a way that it envelops him entirely, and he still needs a lot of time to get rid of that fatal tunic. Only the prayers of our brothers help us to free ourselves from it.

22. ─ Do you want to talk about your brothers alive or in Spirit?

─ From both sides.

23. ─ While we were talking to your brother, one of those present prayed for him. Has prayer been useful to you?

─ It will not be lost. If you now refuse grace, it will come back to you when you are in a state of having recourse to this divine panacea.

The result of these two evocations was transmitted to the person who requested them. Then we received the following response:

“You cannot imagine, sir, how great was the good produced by the evocation of my father-in-law and my uncle. We recognize them perfectly. Above all, the lyrics of the first one have a remarkable analogy with the ones he had in life, especially since, in the last months he spent with us, they were captivating and indecipherable. There we find the same shape of the legs, the signature, and certain letters, especially the d, f, o, p, q, t. As for the words, expressions and style, they are even more remarkable. For us, the analogy is perfect, except for his greatest clarification about God, the soul and eternity, which he once so formally denied. We are therefore perfectly convinced as to the identity. God will therefore be more glorified by our firmer belief in Spiritism, and our brothers, Spirits and living, will become better. His brother's identity is no less evident. The immense difference between the atheist and the believer was recognized in their character, their style, their expressions. One word, above all, shocked us: panacea. It was his usual expression, which he said to everyone and at all times.

“I showed the two communications to several people, who were touched by their veracity. But the non-believers, those who share the opinions of my two relatives, wanted more categorical answers: for, for example, Mr. D… to specify the place where he was buried, where he drowned, how he acted, etc. To satisfy and convince them, you could well ask him the following questions: Where and how did he commit suicide? How long was it submerged? Where was his body found? Where was he buried? In what manner, civil or religious, was the inhumation carried out, etc.?

“I ask you, sir, to kindly demand categorical answers to these essential questions for those who still doubt. I am convinced of the immense good this will produce. I am proceeding so that this letter reaches you tomorrow, Friday, so that you can evoke it at the Society session to be held on that day… etc.”

We reproduce this letter due to the identity it establishes. We have put together our response for the instruction of people unfamiliar with communications from beyond the grave.

“… The questions that you wish to be addressed again to the Spirit of your father-in-law are certainly dictated by a laudable intention, that of convincing unbelievers, because in you there is no mixture of feelings of doubt and curiosity. However, a more perfect knowledge of Spiritism would have made you understand that they are superfluous.

“To begin with, asking your father-in-law to give categorical answers, you are certainly unaware that we do not govern Spirits at will. They respond when they want and how they want, and often how they can. Their freedom of action is even greater than when alive and they have more ways of escaping the moral pressure we try to exert on them. The best proofs of identity are given spontaneously, according to your own will or arising from circumstances and, in most cases, it is a waste of time to try to provoke them. Your relative has proven his identity in an irrefutable way, in your opinion. It is, therefore, more than likely that he will refuse to answer questions that he rightly considers superfluous and asked with the aim of satisfying the curiosity of people who are indifferent to him. Could he respond, as other Spirits have often done in similar cases, asking:

“What’s the point in asking me things you know?” I would also add that the state of disturbance and suffering in which he finds himself must make research of this kind more painful for him, exactly as if one wanted to force a patient who can only think and speak to tell us details of his life. . It would certainly be a lack of due consideration for his position.

“As for the result you expected, it would be null, rest assured. The identity proofs provided have an even greater value, due to the very fact that they were spontaneous and that nothing could indicate that path. If unbelievers are not satisfied with this, neither would they be satisfied by asking questions that could imply connivance. There are creatures that nothing can convince. They would see your father-in-law with their own eyes and say they were the victims of a hallucination. The best thing you can do for them is to leave them calm and not waste time with superfluous words. We can only regret them, because sooner or later they will learn for themselves how much it costs to have rejected the light that God sends them. It is above all against these that God manifests his severity.

“Two more words, sir, about your request for evocation on the same day you were supposed to receive the letter. Evocations are not done like that, in a hurry. Spirits do not always respond to our appeal. To do so, they need to be able or willing to do so. Furthermore, a medium is needed that suits them and has the necessary special aptitude; that this medium is available at any given time; that the environment is sympathetic to the Spirit, etc. These are all circumstances for which we can never respond, and which are important to know when we want to do things seriously.”

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