Pride – Dictated by Saint Louis

Spiritist magazine — Journal of psychological studies — 1858 > May > Pride – Moral dissertation dictated by São Luís to Miss. Hermance Dufaux

Case I – Pride and humility

A superb man owned a few acres (agrarian measure with 0.2 hectare) of good land. He was proud of the heavy ears that covered his field, and he cast a disdainful glance over the barren field of the humble. This one got up at the crowing of the rooster and stayed all day bent over the ungrateful ground; patiently picked up the pebbles and threw them on the side of the road; he turned the earth deeply and pulled out with difficulty the thorns that covered it. Why, his sweat made the field fruitful, and he gathered the best wheat.

However, the tares grew in the proud man's field and smothered the wheat, while the owner boasted of his fecundity and looked with pity on the silent efforts of the humble.

Truly, I say to you, pride is like tares that drown the good grain. He among you who thinks himself more than his brother and who boasts is a fool. Wise is he who works for himself, like the humble in his field, without being proud of his work.

Case II – The rich man and the poor woodcutter

There was a rich and powerful man who enjoyed the prince's favor. He lived in palaces and numerous servants tried to guess his wishes.

One day when his packs were cornering a deer deep in the forest, he spotted a poor woodcutter bending under the weight of a bundle of firewood. He called him and said:

─ Vile slave! Why do you pass by the way without bowing to me? I am equal to the Lord: in councils my voice decides peace and war, and the great ones of the kingdom bow before me. Know that I am wise among the wise, mighty among the mighty, great among the great, and my elevation is the work of my hands.

─ “Sir! ─ replied the poor man, ─ I feared that my humble greeting would offend you. I am poor and the only good I have is my arms, but I do not desire your deceitful grandeur. I sleep my sleep and I fear not, as you do, that the pleasure of the Lord will make me fall into my obscurity.

Now the prince was weary of the pride of arrogance. The great humiliated rose up against him, and he was flung from the pinnacle of his power, like a dry leaf that the wind sweeps from the top of the mountain. But the humble man peacefully continued his rough work, without concern for the next day.

Case III – The superb

Proud, humble yourself, for the hand of the Lord will bend your pride to the dust!

Listening! You were born where fate cast you; you came from your mother's womb weak and naked like the last of men. Why do you lift up your brow higher than your fellows, who, like them, were born to pain and to death?

Listening! Your riches and your greatness, vanities of vanities, will escape your hands when the great day comes, like the shifting waters of the torrent that the sun evaporates. Thou shalt take from thy riches no more than the boards of the coffin, and the titles engraved on the tombstone will be empty words.

Listening! The gravedigger's dog will play with your bones, and they will be mixed with the beggar's; your dust will be mixed with his, for one day you will both be dust. Then you will curse the gifts you have received, when you see the beggar clothed in his glory, and you will weep for your pride.

Humble yourself, proud, for the hand of the Lord will bend your pride to the dust.

the parables

Why does Saint Louis speak to us in parables?

─ It seems that today the lesson should be given to us in a more direct way, without having to resort to allegory.

─ The human spirit likes mystery. The lesson is best engraved in the heart when we look for it.

─ You will find it in development. I want to be read, and morals need a disguise under the lure of pleasure.