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.”

To read more about the topic, Click here.

The article describes the evocation of the Spirit of a French suicide, by Kardec, in a state of moral suffering.

Read more about cases like this clicking here.

Published in the Revista Espírita of November 1858. In full:

Recently the newspapers reported the following fact: “Yesterday (April 7, 1858) at seven o'clock in the evening, a man of about fifty years old, decently dressed, presented himself at the Samaritana establishment and asked for a bath. The employee was surprised that, after two hours, the individual did not call; He decided to go into the bathroom to see if he hadn't felt unwell. He then witnessed a horrible spectacle: the unfortunate man had cut his throat with a razor and all the blood had mixed with the water in the bathtub. Since the identity could not be established, the corpse was transported to the morgue.”

We thought it would be possible to derive a useful lesson for our instruction from the conversation with the Spirit of this man. Therefore, we evoke it on April 13th, just six days after his death.

1. ─ I ask Almighty God to allow the Spirit of the individual who committed suicide on April 7, 1858, in the Samaritan baths, to come and communicate with us.

─ Wait... (After a few moments): Here he is.

NOTE: To understand this answer it is necessary to know that, in general, in all regular meetings, there is a familiar Spirit, from the medium or from the family, who is always present, without having to call him. He is the one who makes those who are evoked come and, depending on whether he is more or less elevated, he serves as a messenger or gives orders to the Spirits who are inferior to him. When our meetings are interpreted by Ms. Ermance Dufaux, it is always the Spirit of Saint Louis who voluntarily takes on this task. He was the one who gave the answer above.

2. ─ Where are you now?

─ I don't know... Tell me where I am.

3. ─ On Rue Valois (Palais-Royal), no. 35, at a meeting of people who are involved in spiritualist studies and who are benevolent.

─ Tell me if I'm alive... I suffocate in the coffin.

4. ─ Who invited you to come to us?

─ I felt relieved.

5. ─ What reason led you to commit suicide?

─ Am I dead?... No!... I'm in my body... You don't know how much I suffer!... I suffocate!... May a pious hand come and put an end to me!

OBSERVATION: Your soul, although separated from the body, is still completely immersed in what we could call the vortex of corporeal matter; Earthly ideas are still alive. He doesn't believe he's dead.

6. ─ Why didn't you leave any identification elements?

─ I'm abandoned. I fled suffering to find torture.

7. ─ Do you still have the same reasons for remaining incognito?

─ Yes. Don't put a hot iron on the bleeding wound.

8. ─ Could you give us your name, age, profession and address?

─ Not at all. No!…

9. ─ Did you have a family, a wife, children?

─ I was abandoned. Nobody loved me.

10. ─ What did you do to not be loved by anyone?

─ How many are there like me!... A man can be abandoned in the middle of his own family, when no heart loves him.

11. ─ Did you experience any hesitation when committing suicide?

─ I was thirsty to die… I was waiting for rest.

12. ─ How did the idea of the future not lead you to renounce that plan?

─ I no longer create in the future; I was hopeless. The future is hope.

13. ─ What reflections did you make when you felt life disappearing?

─ I didn’t reflect; I felt it... But my life was not extinguished... my soul is linked to the body... I did not die... however I feel that worms are gnawing at me.

14. ─ What feeling did you experience at the moment death was complete?

─ Is it complete?

15. ─ Was the moment when life ended painful?

─ Less painful than later. So only the body suffered.

São Luís continues:

─ The Spirit freed itself from a burden that crushed it. He felt the voluptuousness of pain.

(To São Luís): ─ Is this the state that always follows suicide?

─ Yes. The suicide's spirit remains linked to the body until the end of his life. Natural death is the weakening of life. Suicide stops her abruptly.

─ Will this state be the same in every accidental death that is independent of will and that shortens the natural duration of life?

─ No. What do you understand by suicide? The Spirit is only guilty of his works.

OBSERVATION: We had prepared a series of questions that we proposed to address to the Spirit of this man about his new existence. Faced with their answers, they lost their meaning. It was clear to us that he had no awareness of the situation. The only thing he could describe to us was his suffering.

This doubt about death is very common in the recently deceased and especially in those who in life did not elevate their soul above matter. At first glance it is a bizarre phenomenon, but it is very naturally explainable. If we ask a person who is sleepwalking for the first time if they are asleep, they will almost always answer that no, and your answer is logical. The questioner formulates the question poorly, using an inappropriate term. The idea of sleep, in common speech, is linked to the suspension of all sensitive faculties. Now, the somnambulist, who thinks and sees; who is aware of his moral freedom, does not believe that he sleeps and, in fact, does not sleep, in the vulgar meaning of the word. This is why he responds that he is not sleeping until he becomes familiar with this new way of understanding things. The same happens with the man who has just died. For him, death was nothing. Now, as with the sleepwalker, he sees and feels the speech. For him, therefore, life goes on, and he claims so, until he has acquired consciousness of his new state.

Cover photo: Daniel Reche: https://www.pexels.com/pt-br/foto/foto-em-escala-de-cinza-de-um-homem-cobrindo-o-rosto-com-as-maos -3601097/

The following article, about the suicide of a boy, in an act of uncontained emotions, was published in the Revista Espírita of November 1858. In full:

Seven or eight months ago, Luís G…, a shoemaker, was dating the young Vitorina R…, a boot stitcher, who he was supposed to marry soon, as the banns were being published. Things being at this point, the young people considered themselves almost definitely united and, as a cost-saving measure, the shoemaker came to have meals at the bride's house.

Having come last Wednesday, as usual, to have dinner at the seamstress' ((seamstress)) house, an argument ensued about something futile. They were obstinate, on both sides, and things got to the point where Luís left the table and went away, swearing never to return.

However, the next day, the shoemaker, very confused, came to ask for forgiveness. It is said that the night is a good advisor, but the worker, perhaps foreseeing, after the scene the night before, what could happen when there was no longer time to go back, refused to reconcile and neither the protests, nor the tears, nor despair could overcome her. However, as several days had passed since that outburst, hoping that his beloved would be more tractable, the night before last Luís wanted to try one last explanation: he arrived, knocked on the door in order to make himself known, but she refused to open. New pleas from the abandoned poor, new protests through the door, but nothing moved the implacable elected official.

“Then goodbye, oh wicked one!” finally exclaimed the poor boy, “Goodbye forever! Look for a husband who wants you as much as I do!”

At the same time, the girl heard a kind of muffled groan, then the sound of a body sliding along the door, and everything went silent. She thought that Luís had sat on the doorstep to wait for his first exit, but she promised herself not to set foot on the street while he was there.

After just a quarter of an hour, one of the tenants who was passing through the courtyard with a light shouted for help. Soon the neighbors arrived and Miss Vitorina, having also opened her door, let out a scream of horror when she noticed the body of her fiancé on the floor, pale and inanimate. Everyone rushed to help him and look for a doctor, but they soon found that everything was useless, as he had already ceased to exist. The unfortunate young man had buried the shoemaker's knife in his chest and the iron remained in the wound.

The fact that we found in Le Siecle April 7th awakened in us the idea of asking a superior Spirit some questions about its moral consequences. Here they are, with the respective answers, given by the Spirit of São Luís in the Society's session on August 1, 1858.

1. ─ Is the girl, the involuntary cause of her boyfriend's death, responsible? ─ Yes, because I didn’t love him.

2. ─ To avoid this misfortune, should she marry him, even though she didn't love him? ─ She was looking for an opportunity to separate from him; He did at the beginning of his call what he would have done later.

3. ─ So the guilt consists of having harbored feelings in him that he did not share and which were the cause of the boy's death? ─ Yes. That's right.

4. ─ In this case, your responsibility must be proportional to the fault, which must not be as great as if it had, in any case, caused death. ─ This is obvious.

5. ─ Is Luís’ suicide justified in the madness into which Vitorina’s obstinacy plunged him? ─ Yes, because his suicide, provoked by love, is less criminal in the eyes of God than that of the man who wants to free himself from life out of cowardice.

NOTE: Saying that this suicide is any less criminal in the eyes of God, evidently means that there is criminality, even though it is minor. The lack consists of the weakness that he did not know how to overcome. It is undoubtedly a test to which he succumbed. Now, the Spirits teach us that merit lies in fighting victoriously against tests of all kinds, which are the essence of earthly life.

Evoked on another day, the Spirit of Luís C… was asked the following questions, to which he responded:

1. ─ What do you think about the action you took? ─ Vitorina is ungrateful. I was wrong to kill myself for her, because she didn't deserve it.

2. ─ So she didn’t love you? ─ No. At first I thought so, but I was deluded. The scene I made opened his eyes. Afterwards, he felt happy with this pretext to get rid of me.

3. ─ And do you sincerely love her? ─ I had a passion for her. I believe it was just that. If I loved her with pure love, I wouldn't have wanted to hurt her.

4. ─ If she had known that you really wanted to kill each other, would she have persisted in refusing? ─ I don't know. I don't think so, because she wasn't bad. However, it would have been unfortunate. For her it was better that way.

5. ─ When you arrived at your door, did you intend to kill yourself if you were refused? ─ No. I didn't even think about that. I didn't think she was so obstinate. Only when I saw his stubbornness did I feel dizzy.

6. ─ It seems that you only regret the suicide because Vitorina did not deserve it. Is it your only feeling? ─ Right now, yes. I still find myself disturbed. It seems to me to be on your doorstep. However, I feel something that I cannot define.

7. ─ Will you understand later? ─ Yes, when I'm free... What I did was bad. I should have left her calm... I was weak and I suffer the consequences... As you see, passion leads man to blindness and to make absurd mistakes. He only understands when it is too late.

8. ─ You said you suffer the consequences. What punishment do you suffer? ─ I made a mistake by shortening my life. I shouldn't have done it. It should resist instead of ending everything prematurely. That's why I'm unhappy. I suffer. She's always the one who makes me suffer. It seems to me that I'm still on your doorstep. How ungrateful! Don't tell me about this anymore. I don't want to think anymore, because it hurts me so much. Goodbye.

In this September 1858 edition of RE, Kardec presents the case of Louis G., a shoemaker officer, who seven or eight months earlier had committed suicide at the door of his girlfriend, Victorine R., who was a seamstress of boots.

Once, Victorine R. and Louis G, who were already engaged, got into a deep argument for a trivial reason, to the point that Louis got up and promised never to return.

The next day, from cold head, the boy went to apologize, but was unsuccessful: Victorine R. refused to reconcile, despite her despair. 

After a few more days, thinking that his beloved would be reasonable, Louis went to try again to apologize, to which he was again rejected. At his beloved's door, he said to her: "Then farewell, you wicked one!" finally exclaimed the poor boy, “Farewell forever! Find a husband who wants you as much as I do!” – and plunged his shoemaker's knife into his chest, exhaling right there.

This article on the history of Louis G and Victorine R. appeared in Siècle on April 7, 1858.

Seeking to obtain moral teachings about the fact, on August 10, 1858 Kardec evokes São Luís:

1. ─ Does the girl, the unintentional cause of her boyfriend's death, have responsibility? ─ Yes, because I didn't love him.

Comment: This answer causes initial strangeness. Is anyone to blame for not loving someone else? Let's understand.

2. To avoid this misfortune, should she marry him, even though she did not love him? ─ She was looking for an occasion to part with him; did at the beginning of his call what he would have done later.

Comment: Here, St. Louis is saying that, sooner or later, she would separate from him, because, we understand, she didn't really love him.

3. ─ So the guilt consists in having nourished in him feelings that he did not share and that were the cause of the boy's death? ─ Yes. That's it.

4. In this case, your responsibility must be proportionate to the fault, which must not be as great as if it had intentionally caused death. ─ This is obvious.

Comment: Her “guilt” wasn’t so great because she didn’t actually want the other person’s misfortune. He just fed something that caused him suffering.

Observation: Remembering that "guilt" here is not something before an external judge, but before your own conscience. After all, it can be assumed that, since that moment, she must have carried some feeling of guilt because of the misfortune that happened to the boy.

5. Did Louis G.'s suicide find justification in the frenzy into which Victorine's obstinacy plunged him? - Yes, because his suicide, provoked by love, is less criminal in the eyes of God than that of a man who wants to get rid of life out of cowardice.

Comment: Here, when we talk about “crime in the eyes of God”, we need to understand that it was a neologism of the time. The “crime” is to impose a waste of time, perhaps with a great accumulation of suffering, due to the unconquered test. It is also important to remember two aspects: the first is that St. Luís is a Spirit who was, in his life, Catholic. The second is that, even if he doesn't bring concepts from Catholicism, he spoke as they could understand him.

Observation: By saying that this suicide is less criminal in God's eyes, evidently means that there is criminality, although less. The fault consists in the weakness that he did not know how to overcome. It is undoubtedly proof that he succumbed. Now, the spirits teach us that the merit lies in fighting victoriously against trials of all kinds, which are the essence of earthly life.

Here we have two problems to discuss. The first is to reinforce the knowledge brought by Spiritism, which presents its conclusions, without the intention of creating fantasies that try to subjugate through fear. Suicide, seen by many as something that will throw the soul into hell - whatever name is given to it - and even cause it to be born with deformations in the next life, in reality has different effects, depending on each being and each individual. situation.

Secondly, in no way is Saint Louis saying that suicide for love is a good thing: it is only more excusable, before one's own conscience, because it is practically a state of madness, whereas one who kills himself to escape life he almost always does it on his own, and it will cause him greater suffering when he discovers the truth.

Days later, Kardec evokes the Spirit of Louis G., the suicide, asking him the following questions:

1. ─ What do you think of the action that you performed? ─ Victorine is ungrateful. I was wrong to kill myself for her, because she didn't deserve it.

2. ─ So she didn't love you? ─ No. At first she thought so, but she was deluded. The scene I made opened his eyes. Then he was happy with this excuse to get rid of me.

3. - And did you love her sincerely? ─ I had passion for her. I believe it was just that. If I had loved her with pure love, I wouldn't have wanted to hurt her.

4. ─ If she had known that you really wanted to kill yourself, would she have persisted in refusing? ─ I don't know. I don't think so, because she wasn't evil. However, it would have been unfortunate. It was better for her.

We see that this Spirit reached an important conclusion, seeing that it killed itself for a passion. He understands that if he really loved her, he wouldn't have wanted to hurt her, that is, he wouldn't have committed an act so terrible as to shock her feelings so much.

Passion is a term that designates a very strong feeling of attraction to a person, object or topic. Passion is intense, enveloping, an enthusiasm or a strong desire for something. The term is also often applied to designate a lively interest or admiration for an ideal, cause, or activity. In the 19th century, psychology called passions what we now call emotions.

Who knows, in a new incarnation, a spirit like the one who committed suicide, for having found this lucidity, instead of planning a life of suffering as a form of punishment, could not choose tests and opportunities precisely to give himself the chance to learn to get rid of the passions, which often cast us into disgrace? How many murders, by the way, take place not out of hatred or evil thoughts, but simply by passions (today calls emotions)?

Continuing with the account of the evocation of the suicidal Louis G.:

5. ─ When you arrived at your door, did you have any intention of killing you, if you were refused? ─ No. Didn't even think about it. I didn't think she was so obstinate. It was only when I saw your stubbornness that I was taken by a vertigo.

6. ─ It seems that you only regret suicide because Victorine didn't deserve it. Is it your only feeling? ─ Right now, yes. I still feel disturbed. It seems to me to be at your door. But I feel something I cannot define.

7. ─ Will you understand later? ─ Yes, when I'm free... What I did was bad. I should have left her alone… I was weak and I suffer the consequences… As you can see, passion drives man to blindness and to make absurd mistakes.. He only understands when it's too lates.

8. ─ You said that you suffer the consequences. What penalty do you suffer? ─ I made a mistake by shortening my life. I shouldn't have done it. It should resist instead of ending everything prematurely. […]

Comment: he doesn't say that he was being gnawed by worms, nor that he was in a hellish region, nor that he was attached to the body, anything like that. In the disturbed state in which he found himself, his mind became attached to the fateful scene, the origin of his present moral sufferings, and it was in this that his thought became trapped. Well, we ourselves do this incarnate, every day.

 Here we have confirmed the state of “madness”, driven by passions, into which this man entered, who killed himself in a thoughtless act. How many suicides of this kind are there? They would be numbered in the thousands, if something was publicized. Unfortunately it is not. These suffer, as the Spirit of Louis G. suffered, because they understood that the thoughtless act cost them time and imposed suffering on others. Hence to say that this will lead them to spend years dragging themselves in the "valley of suicides" or that they will bring physical changes to the new incarnation because of this guilt, there is a great distance.

If you think about it, he doesn't even want to kill himself. it was an act of rage at the time. And we think that we should pay a lot of attention to the teachings of this article, because it is a global problem in our current society. The number of suicides has increased a lot. We see here the how urgent is it tame our passions.

Note: This account by Louis G. appears in the Book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec.((1)) Book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec, Editora FEAL, 2021, second part, chapter. V, pg. 337, the subtitle: Louis and the Shoe Seamstress.

French actor Alain Delon stated that he will perform euthanasia, as reported by Veja SP. Alain, who considers the suicide watched “the most logical and natural thing”, he said, in a post on Instagram:

“I made my decision a long time ago, I think my life was beautiful but also very difficult. I never liked getting old. All these everyday pains and challenges make me paralyzed.”

Unfortunately, the actor does not know Spiritism, which would be almost comical, if it were not tragic, for being, precisely, born in the land where the Spiritist Doctrine was born, more than 160 years ago. But I am not talking here about the Spiritualism-religion of the current spiritist movement, the one that says that the suicidal person will feel his body being gnawed by worms, or that he will suffer in the “valley of suicides”, or that he will be reborn in a defective body. We have already talked about the unreality of these generic claims. in this article.

No: here we speak of Spiritism in its scientific essence, a doctrine whose theory was born from the rational observation of the universally agreed teachings of the Spirits. This Doctrine, in its essence, shows us the following: life is an opportunity for learning and elevation. Finishing it ahead of time, on your own, is a great waste of time, as it distances you from the elevation and learning made possible by life's trials and opportunities.

It happens that every second on Earth, however difficult it may be, if well faced and overcome, brings us closer to the final goal, which is the happiness of the good and the just. How, however, to reach this state of happiness, without getting rid of imperfections and passions - which is only done through the tests of life, will and learning?

This, of course, is entirely different from the case of animal euthanasia.

The actor, unfortunately, is not aware of this fact of our spiritual reality. On the other hand, after committing the act, one day you will probably see the uselessness of it… And that's it. There is no punishment: there is error, born of ignorance. A better understanding of these issues leverages our progress, allowing us to reach happiness sooner, according to our commitment to elevate ourselves through our own effort. We wish him, and others, that they may soon understand these matters.

I close leaving the subject for reflection, as discussed in The Gospel According to Spiritism:

Is it lawful to shorten the life of a sick person who suffers without hope of cure?
28. A man is dying, prey to cruel sufferings. It is known that his condition is desperate. Is it lawful to spare him a few moments of anguish, hastening his end?

Who would give you the right to prejudge God's designs? Can he not lead the man to the edge of the ditch, to pull him out of it, in order to make him come to himself and entertain ideas different from those he had? Even if a dying man has reached the last extreme, no one can say with certainty that the last hour has struck him. Has science never been wrong in its predictions?

I am well aware that there are cases that can rightly be considered hopeless; but if there is no well-founded hope of a definitive return to life and health, there is the possibility, attested by countless examples, that the patient, at the very moment of exhaling his last breath, revive himself and recover for a few moments his faculties. ! Well then: this hour of grace, which is granted to him, may be of great importance to him. You do not know the reflections that your Spirit can make in the convulsions of agony and how many torments a flash of regret can spare you.

The materialist, who sees only the body and has no account of the soul, is unable to understand these things; the spiritist, however, who already knows what is happening beyond the grave, knows the value of a last thought. Lessen the last sufferings as much as you can; but beware of shortening your life, even for a minute, because that minute can save you many tears in the future.

St. Louis.
Paris, 1860

We have talked a lot about suicide according to Spiritism and, perhaps, our positions have not always been absolutely clear and concise. Because of this, we believe it is necessary to adopt a new approach, in a succinct and clear way.

by Paulo Degering R. Jr.

Read to the end

the suicidal, as long as you're aware of what you're doing, he will have some moral suffering when he realizes the loss of time that was to interrupt his own life. He said "as long as you're aware of what you're doing” because sometimes there is no such awareness. Furthermore, he will almost always have a greater difficulty in detaching himself from the body, which, far from being weakened, was at the fullest of its strength.

Kardec expressed himself like this, in The Spirits' Book:

This effect is not general; but in no case is the suicidal person exempt from the consequences of his lack of courage, and sooner or later he atones, in one way or another, for the guilt he has incurred. This is how certain spirits, who were very unfortunate on Earth, said they had committed suicide in the previous existence and submitted voluntarily to new tests, to try to bear them with more resignation.

Note the highlighted word: voluntarily. The suicidal person can, in a new incarnation, choose rough trials in order to try to overcome them, learning to bear the vicissitudes with greater resignation.

But then they will tell you: read the book “Memoirs of a suicide”

The book “Memoirs of a suicide”

In this book, very briefly, a Spirit talks about his extreme suffering after death. It was there that the image of the “valley of suicides” was created, something like a “place” where suicidal Spirits would be “purging” their faults.

It turns out that Spirits don't look for locations. Spirits seek Spirits or situations, according to their beliefs and ideas — consciously or not. Spirits — all of them — attract each other by affinity and feelings, as, for example, by love or hate, but also by the same tune of thoughts. Spirits that judge themselves guilty often throw themselves into a real hell mental, in a situation that is often shared by other Spirits in a similar situation, who, then, together, can form true landscapes of suffering, through mental action on fluidic matter.

So Yvonne do Amaral Pereira wrong or lied?

Not necessarily. When it comes to Spirits, we know that they are like us — with the same virtues and imperfections. Thus, they can speak with real wisdom, or with false ideas, in which they believe. They can often even trick. We do not know who this Spirit was who psychographed through Yvonne. He was probably a suffering Spirit, with very limited ideas about the spiritual world. What we know is that, without a shadow of a doubt, we cannot disrespect the basic principle of spirit science: the universal agreement of the teaching of the Spirits. Kardec would say, in A Genesis, right in the first lines:

General concordance in teaching is the doctrine’s essential character, the condition even of its existence. It is evident that all principles which have not received the consecration of general agreement can only be considered as a fractional part of this same doctrine, merely as a simple, isolated opinion for which Spiritism cannot assume the responsibility.

It is the concordant, collective teaching of the spirits who have passed beyond which constitutes the logical criterion, giving strength to the spiritual doctrine and assuring to it perpetuity.

The problems of false concepts in the Spiritist Movement

In spiritist circles, it is commonplace nowadays to hear statements such as “the suicide goes to the valley of suicides”, or “the suicide will encounter enormous suffering, as he will be trapped in his body and will feel the worms gnawing at him” or, even , “the suicide, in the next incarnation, will come with a defective body, to 'redeem' his faults”. None of this reflects the reality of suicide according to Spiritism, in a generic way.

The current spiritist movement began to adopt several false concepts and half-truths, obtained through individual and isolated reports from some Spirits, as if it were the unquestionable truth about all situations. A colleague of ours would say: modern spiritualists began to place a whole universe of variable possibilities in “little boxes”. For example: did you kill yourself? Go to the “box” in the suicide valley. Burned a person? It goes to the “death in fire in the next life” “box”. All this, as a general rule, it's not a truth.

Unfortunately, many of us - myself included - for lack of previous studies and, often, willingly, wanting to help, we release these phrases that often cause revolt and distance from people who come to seek, precisely in Spiritism, an answer different of what is being said out there.

It happens that, in the last year, after the beginning of our studies on the Spiritist Magazine, many concepts were clarified, others were replaced and many others were forgotten. Kardec, already in the first editions of RE, in 1858, makes evocations of at least three suicidal spirits, analyzing their individual cases. Others that were made on other occasions also appear in later issues, as well as in the book O Céu e o Inferno (from Editora FEAL, corresponding to the original, unadulterated). And, analyzing these communications, there is a very big lesson, which we will try to explain objectively below.

Rather, it is important to remember that Spiritism, as a Scientific Doctrine, does not stop man by imposing fear, because the brake of passions by this type of device is only temporary and without great results. No: Spiritism comes to present the truth based on the analysis of the facts, through the rational and concordant study of the communications of the Spirits given by all parts and for all times. When studying Spiritism, we are no longer guided by fear, but for the reason, and it is only when the Spirit enters the state of reason that it actually makes better and clearer decisions.

Well, well: on the subject of suicide, we repeat that, based on these studies, the results initially highlighted cannot be taken as a general rule. Yes, there are Spirits in enormous disturbance that believe being gnawed by worms, for his mind was still on the sight of the torn body. There are also those who find themselves in hellish places, because they believe that it should be so and because if throw themselves into hellish mental situations, where, alone or in a group, they create true diabolical or purgatorial scenarios. In addition to these, there are those who piously believe that death is the end of life and then fall into a more or less prolonged sleep, as there are also those rare who, after the fateful act, momentarily they see themselves freed from physical pain, believing themselves, then, to be free from moral pain, which they still do not know how to distinguish from the first.

Therefore, the situation of each one, after death by suicide, will vary much, on a case-by-case basis and according to the — degree of awareness of what they do. That is why a Spirit who takes his life in an impetus of despair almost always has a much lower degree of guilt - before his own conscience - than one who, knowing Spiritism and the doctrine of choice of proofs and expiations, after taking the life of his own body, he falls into a deep sense of guilt and heavy lamentations, for he regrets having given up the opportune proofs for his own advancement. Furthermore, it is important to say that, almost always, these acts cause pain in those who love us, which increases the bitterness of the Spirit when evaluating the extent of the results of their act.

What we seek to say, after all, is that the Spirit does not suffer materially, in any way. You may believe that you suffer and, mentally, create a false sense of physical pain, but in fact, suffering is moral and consistent with the degree of conscience and guilt you have, towards yourself, about the harm done to yourself. . We would say that, since suicide is the abandonment of the tests chosen by oneself, it will almost always accompany a lesser or greater moral suffering, but it will never represent an end in the opportunities granted by God for our evolution, nor will it, as a rule, cause a expiatory suffering in the next incarnation. Once again, depends on one's mindset, beliefs and knowledge.

But in the end, what's the point of killing yourself?

We know that, almost always, suicide is an attempt to escape from pain or despair that one does not know how to deal with. You see, however: the fact that that situation is happening is precisely an important learning opportunity, in order to deal with these situations. If we don't know how to deal with it, it's because we still have acquired imperfections or passions, that is, emotions that we still do not completely know how to deal with. Going to the extreme of taking life from the body will only prolong this state of ignorance or imperfection, with consequent suffering. moral, since we didn't win the test, that is, we didn't acquire experience and strength to overcome it.

Where, then, to find strength? Well, we are incarnated for a reason: to learn and to let go of possible imperfections created by ourselves. In the world of Spirits - Space - time does not exist, so that the Spirit who has developed imperfections is incessantly occupied with them, either in an illusion of pleasures, or in a self-persecution caused by remorse. Thus, if we have developed any imperfection, this imperfection will be, for us, the reason for worries that seem endless - this is the explanation why certain spirits, in a state of suffering, say that such a situation seems to them to have no end.

Well, I was talking about the reason for incarnation, which, far from the false idea of being a punishment, is, on the contrary, a divine blessing, as it offers an opportunity for common learning and detachment from acquired imperfections. Here, it is possible to put ourselves in contact with people of all kinds, carry out different activities, etc., everything that leads us to leave, or at least break the cycle, of these situations of moral suffering. What is, however, the first and greatest mistake that those who suffer morally usually make - also induced by imperfect spirits? isolate yourself. There is the first step towards the fall, because isolation will cause precisely this scenario of endless self-persecution. Do not make this mistake, and seek to help those who do, if possible following the reasoning above.

Faced with a difficult test, who says we have to go through it alone? Often, this thought of solitary confrontation also originates from false ideas or even from a certain pride, which turns into a shell, for fear of exposing yourself. Certainly we will not go out on the street telling anyone who passes by about our difficulties, but certainly, with the purpose of seeking help, you will find it, perhaps not in the first psychologist, perhaps not in the first friend, perhaps not in the first group of activities. any, but you will find it, because you are not alone: by your side, leading you towards good, there is a good Spirit, higher than you - your guardian angel or protective spirit. The important thing is not to isolate yourself, nor to isolate yourself. Seek. Look for a charity activity group, look for a morning walk group, look for, above all, be useful, and that will make you gravitate towards situations and people that can, slowly and progressively, help in its construction.

It is up to each of us to will to change or not, to learn or not, but this work is much favored by the development of reason — this is why we so defend the study of Spiritism. Through our modification, we will become stronger and advance several steps in a single life and, who knows, tomorrow we will not need to return to this same kind of painful situation, perhaps conquering the happiness of being able to live in better worlds or that, if here reincarnate, let us be much more strengthened and prepared.

I'm not talking lip service here: I'm talking about what I myself have lived and learned. I went through a kind of restlessness, I went through isolation, I went through self-persecution. I allowed myself, however, to be influenced by good spirits, and that moved me to various situations that, slowly and progressively, brought me here. One of these situations was very interesting: I decided to visit a nursing home close to my house, where I had contact with several elderly people who taught me a lot about perseverance; I was welcomed with great affection by a Catholic prayer group, whose leader was a medium and probably didn't know it; but the most interesting thing is that, on the shelf of that institution, where there was a predominance of Catholicism, there were, on the shelf in the common room, some copies of the Spiritist Magazine, which I got to pick up, I even leafed through, but I ended up not reading it at that time. I only came to know the Magazine about a year later. Evaluate for yourself the paths along which the good spirits lead us, leaving us the freedom to go ahead or not, open the door or keep it closed.

Remember, after all: no one can do us harm but ourselves. Interrupting your own life is a waste of time, which generates guilt and remorse and no stops the moral suffering caused by imperfections that may still exist in us ((Remembering that ignorance and imperfection are different things. Imperfection is acquired by the habit of repeating a mistake; ignorance can lead to error, but, as long as we overcome it, it's just a mistake)).

And if someone close to you is thinking about killing himself, bring that kind of thought to him. If someone has already taken their own life, in your prayers for that person, talk to this Spirit, so that he can leave the feeling of helplessness in the face of guilt, get up and resume the evolutionary path.

Let us study, precisely, in order to to throw, from people's minds and from the Spiritist movement, the false ideas that hinder more than help. A Spirit that does not want to leave the coffin, does so because it believes that only Jesus himself will come to take him by the hand, on the day of final judgment. Let us not act like those prisoners of conscience, let us not create false conceptions in people's thinking. Matter and sensations after death are not anything. All that matters is thought, will and reason. And finally, let's not take the opinion of isolated spirits as if they were the pure truth - regardless of the medium that made it possible.

We recommend the following videos:

In this article, Kardec evokes a Spirit who had committed bodily suicide just 6 days before. As can be seen in the original text, this man was not recognized by anyone, having been buried as a pauper. It is possible to raise several considerations about this article.

“The phone only rings from there to here”

The first of these considerations, we would say, is regarding the evocation itself: at a time when the motto “the phone only rings from there to here” reigns, that has a background of reason, but which is thoughtlessly repeated by so many, we are faced with the doctrinal basis of Spiritism, built largely under evocations - i.e, the phone also rings from here to there. Only that, like a telephone, who will answer and if will answer is the problem of the question, always addressed by Kardec.

The Suffering of the Suicide

It is important to understand that the Spirit of the suicide will not suffer divine punishment for a sin committed – not in this way. Any Spirit will always have forgiveness and new chances, as it all starts from ignorance regarding evolving Spirits.

There are infinite variations between each case, with the result that there are infinite effects related to each case, because, essentially, such effects will be linked to the general mentality of the Spirit who commits suicide. While some will throw themselves into a real hell, because they believe they have committed sin, others may even be relieved, In a first moment – because later, when you really understand everything, you will most likely regret the wasted life.

Anyway, as São Luis attests, we understand that the first effect for every suicidal person – or, at least, for most of them – will be a great difficulty to disconnect from the body, given the violence of the act, their mental state and the fact that the body is still saturated with vitality. This, however, is only what we can say at the moment, based on what we understand from the article, because, really, it is a subject that requires further development and investigation.

It is also important to emphasize that the Spirit does not suffer none kind of physical pain. It is always your morality, your conscience, that externalizes and places in external factors the pain that is, in fact, within yourself. The suicidal person (like other spirits), therefore, can claim to suffer from cold or thirst, when, in fact, he is suffering morally, and not physically. In fact, we do this ourselves, with the difference that, through psychosomatic processes, we can develop actual damage or illness in the physical body.

That is why, when we come in contact with any Spirit in suffering, we can and should have a natural and healthy conversation with him, clarifying these points. It helps enormously for them to understand that suffering is moral, internal, not external and imposed.

the valley of the suicides

To put it bluntly: there is no “the” valley of suicides, just as there is no “the” hell. It is important that the Spiritist learns to remove this type of concept from his imagination and, above all, to spread them to others, because we know that, as a not very enlightened Spirit, we seek environments and other Spirits that are in accordance with our mentality that, moreover, shape these environments of suffering together. Therefore, when a suffering Spirit says that he is “in” hell, he acts like an incarnate person who, in a very difficult situation for him, expresses himself in the same way, with the difference that the Spirit shapes, alone or together, his own hell. .

Once again, it is very important to seek to clarify such Spirits, when in contact with him.

Above all, it is important to remember that there is no such fateful connection between a suicide and the exile of the Spirit in a “valley”, as a penalty.

The effects of suicide on the next incarnation

There is something much wrong in the spiritist environment in general, currently, and which is not doctrinal - in fact, it is something anti-doctrinal, born from the lack of study of the Doctrine: it is to make the depressing claims that such an individual was born under such tests or deformations because in the previous life he did this or that.

In the particular case, about suicide, there is a terrible statement made out there: that the individual who has physical problems today is so because he would be “rescuing” a suicide committed in the previous life. Brethren, this statement is criminal, why:

1. keep away people who, suffering in their skin or having a loved one in these situations, feel (rightly) outraged by this type of statement.
2. it's fallacious, because it is not based on reality: we do know that for every effect there is a cause, but it is not for us to probe the evidence of each, both because of the imposition of charity, which we must practice, and because a Spirit can choose a deformed body not only as a test, in order to try to get rid of an imperfection, but also as a mission in front of other Spirits or also as an opportunity to learn other virtues that you still feel the need to exercise. Anyway, it's ever a conscious choice of the Spirit, not the effect of a divine mechanics of sin and punishment. We note, moreover, that in all the spiritual communications studied so far, they always assert, even for the case of the monomaniacal madman, that the proof is the result of a choice prior and personal.

Suicide is not fought by fear

Finally, we remind you that suicide will never be fought by imposing the fear of suffering, but, rather, through the clarification. Let us introduce such individuals to the essence of Spiritism. Let us try to lead them to the following reasoning:

Pains and joys are fleeting, related to incarnate life. Happiness, which is what we really seek, will only be achieved after we leave our imperfections behind – since, for example, someone who is too worried, or too anxious, or too angry, or too jealous, or too proud, or too sensual, etc., cannot be really happy. To do so, on the spiritual plane, when we are aware of our imperfections, we plan lives with opportunities and difficulties, sometimes quite heavy, which, in our judgment, can help us overcome such imperfections. Therefore, giving up a life, with the extinction of the corporeal life itself, will not result in any progress, because, having not taken advantage of the difficult test for learning, we will not have perfected ourselves and, therefore, we will need - by our own will and verification – restarting a new life, carrying an even greater burden, due to the feeling of guilt caused by giving up and, who knows, by the disastrous effects that such an act can cause in the incarnate spirits that surround us.

Nobody is saying it's easy. Everyone knows where the callus presses and when you squeeze it, it hurts a lot. But we need to learn to separate physical pains from moral pains, placing ourselves, before ourselves and before the Creator, naked of any mask of selfishness or vanity and of all the imperfections that arise from these. We need to seek, in each hard test, as well as in the abundant opportunities that are presented to us, the deep needs we have for learning and, not forgetting that we are never alone, trust in the good Spirits, who do not abandon us, to go through such difficult moments.

Here, by the way, a final thought arises, supported by Spiritism: God does not give us a greater burden than we can carry. Most of the time, life presents us with opportunities that would allow us to learn in a much “lighter” way, but we, almost always, driven by pride, try to wear a mask, confuse us from ourselves and, thus, we choose leave aside the straight path, in order to embark on the winding and tortuous paths of passions (not speaking here in love, but in the deep feeling provoked by sensations). This is how, for example, many choose leave aside the study of Spiritism, which can leverage our evolution so much, to live life in laziness.

Therefore, let us take advantage of the opportunities that life offers us for our learning and evolution. Sometimes they are prickly, chosen by ourselves; at others, they are fields of soft and smooth grass, full of teachings given by love. It is up to us to recognize them.

NOTE: This evocation is in the book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec, first report of Chapter V – Suicides, of Part Two. It is worth reading the entire chapter V with several reports of evocations of suicides with many considerations by the author.

[This article was originally created by the passage of Yellow September 2021, but extends to all possible moments]

In a century of despair, where society experiences materiality in an exaggerated way, perhaps like never before; where ancient dogmas and the imposition of fear no longer have any effect, discredited as they are by the development of science and reason; where, finally, the human being abandons life and its sufferings sweetened by the false conception that, after death, there is only “rest in peace”, Spiritism comes, once again, to show the essence of its doctrine, presenting, to individuals, the reality of life and a new way of facing it, with more determination and austerity. In the prevention of suicide, Spiritism is the most powerful tool in existence..

What is suicide in the understanding of Spiritism

Suicide, in itself, is just the extreme act, almost always desperate, often caused by human passions, led to the thoughtless act of crime against life itself. But it begins earlier, much earlier, with the first urges of giving up in the face of life's difficulties. We are still imperfect Spirits and, without a strong base, without a buoy to hold on to, we easily sink… And it is precisely this base that the Spiritist Doctrine comes to give us, no longer as an article of faith, as something imaginable, only, but by the evidence of the spiritist phenomena and the communications of themselves, the Spirits, already freed from the matter.

Where, then, will we find this lifebuoy, in the midst of the sea of pain?

Nothingness, dogma and reason

The Catholic dogmas of the time stated, on this subject, that the individual who committed suicide would suffer eternally in hell; now, between suffering here and suffering in hell, in the minds of many, the difference would not be great, since many already imagined themselves with a “foot in hell”, because they already believed themselves to be sinners. Taking one's own life wouldn't change much, they thought, but at least it would free them from their present pain. We see that dogma was no longer sufficient to fill the human void.

Materialism, on the other hand, claimed that man was just a biological machine, a slave to the senses and wills. Taking one's own life, then, to end any suffering, often without explanation, would be the best way out, from this point of view – a doctrine of terrible theories and disastrous consequences:

Every man feels the need to live, to enjoy life, to love, to be happy. To a person who knows that he is about to die, let it be said that he will still live, or that his time has been postponed. Tell yourself, above all, that she will be happier than ever, and her heart will flutter with joy. But what good would such aspirations of happiness be if a light breath could undo them?

[…]

Is there anything more desperate than the idea of absolute destruction? Sacred affections, intelligence, progress, knowledge laboriously acquired, all would be undone, all would be lost! What is the need for the effort to become better, to repress passions, to enrich our spirit, if we are not to reap any fruit from it, especially given the idea that tomorrow, perhaps, it will no longer serve us for anything? If that were so, man's lot would be a hundred times worse than that of the savage, who lives entirely in the present, in the satisfaction of his material appetites, without aspirations for the future. A secret intuition tells us that this is not possible.

Allan Kardec, Heaven and Hell

Before Spiritism, the afterlife was just a vague thing. We knew that we “had” a soul (better saying, we are a soul, linked to a body) but the kind of difficulties to be faced by it after death was something totally unknown, being treated only in a dogmatic way and, even when removed from the dogma, was more a philosophical than a factual concept.

The Spiritist Science comes to bring light through the rational study of the facts

With the birth of Spiritism, however, the concept of soul it was complemented and expanded through the study of the phenomena resulting from our relationship with the Spirits, who showed themselves to be human souls, but disconnected from the body.

This was a landmark that, one day, will be in human history, as it is already found, today, in the spiritist history, because it brought to man the certain that life does not really end in the tomb, nor does it begin at conception, but that it transcends the limits of matter, in successive incarnations, with the aim of learning and elevating itself, always, until it no longer needs matter, when the Spirit becomes pure or perfect.

Through communications with the Spirits, mediated by mediums, especially mechanical psychographers (see more about this in The Mediums' Book, in Part Two), Allan Kardec obtained the most valuable teachings about the future of the soul, after disincarnation. And that was how, after some years of studies, he formulated the work O Céu e o Inferno, where he deals in a philosophical way, in the first part, and in a practical way, in the second, about the biggest problem of humanity: who we are, where we came from and where are we going and why and what are we here for.

Heaven and Hell: the fate of the Spirit after the death of the body

In this work, impossible to be summarized, in the second part, we find some depositions of Spirits of various evolutionary shades - among them, that of some suicides. And reading, although difficult, is very important, because we learn from them about the effects of their actions. In Revista Espírita, from 1858 to 1869, we also find several reports of evocations of suicides, which tell us about their difficulties and the effects of their actions. From them we take the following extract:

Each situation is one, because each Spirit is one, with its intelligence, its evolution, its understanding, its conceptions and its moment. There are suicides who claim to suffer physical pain after death (which, in fact, is an externalized moral suffering, since the Spirit does not suffer materially); there are spirits who say they find themselves in a hellish situation, which can be just a mental picture as it can also be a “reality” lived with other suffering spirits, who are grouped by their mental state; there are spirits who realize that they made a mistake by taking their own life, in an unthinking act; and there are even, although they are rare, those who, at first, are content with having left life, only to later understand that this has been of no use to them and that they will have to reincarnate again, in the same kind of incarnation, in order to to continue their tests.

There is, therefore, this correlation that many make, that the suicidal person will suffer feeling the worms gnawing at his body or that in the next life they will be reincarnated in deformed bodies, nor that everyone will go to the famous “suicide valley”, which is nothing more. than one of the infinite groupings of Spirits in suffering and that, due to their disturbed mentality, create true infernal regions. Each case is different. The only certainty, I repeat, is that suicide will only prolong the state of suffering that is being imperfect and having to deal with these imperfections through reincarnations in gross matter and among Spirits as imperfect as we are, or more.

More than that, however, it is very important to understand the Spiritist Doctrine in its essence, from which we take the following:

In life, we have two kinds of suffering: those caused by ourselves, by our carelessness, by our impatience, by our addictions, and those that we do not cause in this life. The first can be avoided by an interior reform, by correcting our imperfections. The second, however, compose the types of difficulties that are part of a reincarnation planning, carried out by ourselves, with a view to making us learn, in difficult tests and, thus, to correct our imperfections, helping us to make less mistakes and to advance. more quickly.

So, so far, we have three very important points:

1. Killing the body does not kill the Spirit, nor does it eliminate pain. moral that make us suffer. It often increases it and always prolongs it.
2. Faced with the difficulties caused by ourselves, by our imperfections, only an internal correction will make us stop creating these difficulties that often bring us so much suffering.
3. Faced with the difficulties brought by life and which are not the result of our current actions, we need to understand that it is a very great opportunity for our learning, planned by ourselves, as Spirit, and that we need to get something good out of it, taking advantage of the opportunity sore to look inside ourselves and change ourselves with even more energy and persistence.

Life, after all, is not a punishment. We are not here to pay anything, but to develop ourselves., and it is only through the exercise of this development, of getting rid of our imperfections and of conquering virtues, that we will reach a real state of happiness, each time greater.

Suicide and our relationships with Spirits

We know, however, that we are not always ready to deal with the difficulties that come our way, so it is very easy to allow ourselves to get depressed. It is at this moment that we need to be very attentive, because, let us remember, this despondency does not usually come only from within us, but often – almost always – is fed and augmented by Spirits who do not wish our good.

We know that Spirits are around us all the time, and that they are attracted to us as we are in our raw, inner reality. So, because of our imperfections, which we often we like to cultivate, we start to attract inferior spirits who start to get attached to us and feed the cultivation of these imperfections. Over time, this relationship can become obsessive, to the point where we find ourselves subjugated by the will of one or more inferior spirits, who start to command our actions. This is a dangerous state that also leads us to have suicidal thoughts and, in extreme cases, can inactivate our ability to act on our own will, and a firm will is the main tool to overcome spiritual obsessions.

In these cases, it is important to seek external support, as we often find ourselves in a state of subjugation that takes away our ability to reason and have a firm will. This help can be found in several ways – see, at the end, the section “Tools for overcoming depression and thoughts of giving up“.

the passions

Here another important aspect arises in this matter: the question of passions, which Kardec always cited in his time, and which today can be understood as “feelings”.

By definition, passion is a term that designates a very strong feeling of attraction to a person, object or topic. Passion is intense, enveloping, an enthusiasm or a strong desire for something. The term is also often applied to designate a lively interest or admiration for an ideal, cause, or activity.

In the state of experiencing the passions, the individual is blind to rationality and, in this state, how many cases of suicide have been committed without thought? How many communications were there, with which we have already had contact, from the Spirit who, soon after performing the act, deeply regretted the thoughtlessness of what he had done? Taming the passions, therefore, is something of paramount importance. Kardec defines it like this, in A Genesis:

Instinct annihilates itself; passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.

And today, finally, with access to the Spiritist Doctrine, we can strengthen the will through reason, that is, we can develop more firmness and calmness to go through the trials of life, knowing that our future happiness depends on it, and that interrupting our life before time will not end any moral suffering, but will only prolong it.

In this situation, therefore, let us seek help: let us seek a psychologist, let us seek the spiritist center, let us seek a good friend, let us seek prayer, calm music, reading and the practice of the Gospel, let us seek to visit a nursing home to talk to the elderly, in short, Let's look for something that makes us feel good, but let's look for it with determination and persistence.

But, above all, let us seek something very special and important: to study and practice Spiritism in our homes, together with our family, because while the individual is supposed to be a passive machine, hostage to body chemistry, without soul and, therefore, without free will, he will only respond mechanically to everything and, in the face of pain, he will find the only result that emanates from it, albeit false: the machine is turned off, the pain ends.

To understand Spiritism is to understand life

It is only with the return and development of the understanding of the concept of a soul that survives the death of the body and that it always advances towards perfection, improving and correcting itself through successive trials and opportunities, and away from the old and wrong concepts of sin. and punishment by a vengeful and cruel God, that suicide will cease to exist on the face of the earth.

Life does not end in the tomb and the soul, freed from the body, only finds its reality even more exacerbated. It is precisely this reality, which leads her to give up, that she needs to lean over, without ceasing, in order to strengthen herself; but, I repeat: this will never happen as long as, in the body, one assumes only a machine, a slave to the chemistry of the senses.

And let's not forget. God does not leave us abandoned in the difficulties of life and does not give us greater burdens than we can bear. It is because of our actions or the way we face these difficulties that we often increase the weight of this burden until we fall to the ground, under a weight beyond what was programmed. Still, it is possible to recover and move on if we want to: just ask God for help and it will come, in one form or another, to help us lessen the extra weight we carry. Let's be careful: this help comes through an unexpected contact, a gifted book, content that a friend suggests or even through a persistent thought so that we look for certain content on the Internet. It's the way God answers us, but we need to be open to it.

Finally, of course: if you notice someone by your side with the slightest traces of depression, constant sadness, discouragement, withdrawal, etc., be charitable and talk to her, with all the affection, all the fraternity and all the attention possible. Tell her about your certainty that life doesn't end at the grave. Tell her that she is not alone and that life's difficulties, which we all have, are necessary tests for our own learning, almost always requested by ourselves. This could save a life.

Tools for overcoming depression and thoughts of giving up

Here, we are going to list some tools that will be more or less useful for some and for others, according to the thinking and state of each one. Analyze and stick with what makes you feel good:

• Psychological help: This is substantial and necessary support in these cases. The professional therapist will be able to provide support that almost no one will be able to, helping you to understand content and pain that you don't even realize, but that are there, disturbing you.
• Gospel at Home: it is a practice that has been very prominent, and which aims to reflect, in the light of the Gospel According to Spiritism, on our own faults and imperfections, seeking to change ourselves. In this sense, a content that I really like and that has already helped me is the Gospel of the Spiritist Center Land of Ishmael.
• Study of Spiritism: acquiring knowledge is extremely important for our faith to be unshakable and for us to become more austere and decisive to face difficulties. Study Kardec's works!
• Attending a spiritist center: although the experience of Spiritism must be something internal, having the fraternal support of a spiritist center can be very important. Look for someone close and where you feel good and welcomed.
• Practice activities in order to socialize and disconnect a little from the disturbing thought or environment. Assistance activities, for example, help a lot, because when we do good to others, we do ourselves.
• Practice sports and try to seek a healthier life, as we cannot forget that, while incarnate, we are influenced by the body's ailments.
• Do general exams, verifying that you are not having health problems, including vitamin and hormonal deficiencies, which commonly cause states of shortage and depression.
• don't cover yourself too much, for this causes disappointment and bitterness. We know we need to improve ourselves, but it's no use wanting to become an angel overnight! Evolution is made in decisive and constant steps, but millimeter by millimeter. We will stumble many times in this process: so don't let yourself get discouraged. Recognize yourself as an imperfect Spirit, get up, beat the dust and get back on your way.
• Practice prayer at all times when you feel any anguish. Do not repeat words in a memorized way, however: make this prayer come from the bottom of your heart, connecting it to God, and don't forget that none of us are abandoned in life: on our side, seeking to help us, we always have our Spirits protectors or guardians.
• Be aware of the opportunities that “life” (the good spirits, in fact) present to you: a good book recommended by someone, an invitation to a study group, participation in a spiritist center, in short, the good opportunities that life offers us. presents and that it is up to us not to be resistant to them.

We often find ourselves asking: why reincarnate? Could we not make all progress on the spiritual plane?

Spiritism, as in everything that we are already able to understand, comes to our rescue, explaining this point, which is actually fundamental to our lives, since we see so many brothers and, sometimes, ourselves, with thoughts of discouragement and giving up. . How many brothers have not taken their own lives from their bodies, through suicide, interrupting a reincarnation plan so important to them?

What Spiritism teaches us, dear brother or sister, is that, when in Spirit, in the state of erraticity, that is, in the period between one incarnation and another, our true self emerges with emphasis and transparency. Thus, our good and bad virtues, embedded in our minds, show themselves as they are, and with greater truth. It is as if we are a crystal vase that has the cloudy water thrown away and then starts to shine in its original clarity, although this does not always show a crystallity of heart.

The Spirit that has been struggling for some time due to moral imperfections - and even material vices - and that, from incarnation to incarnation, has not yet found the strong decision for its change, when disincarnating, it starts to experience this moral environment at its disposal. , as they move, with the speed of thought, to the companies and environments they most desire. Thus, many spirits easily become part of the ranks of spirits who agonize in the misunderstanding that, in order to leave, a firm will is enough, which until then, even in physical life, they often failed to have.

Also, there are cases of obsessed and persecuted spirits, often demented by the extent of their own guilt and misunderstanding.

Then comes the opportunity of reincarnation as a very valuable device that allows the Spirit, through the obliteration of integral memory, to regain breath and correct imperfections, especially through the so important but still so forgotten role of parents or caregivers, from early material childhood that the Spirit goes through, a phase in which it becomes more docile and malleable to learning - which should always be done on the basis of love and fraternity, in a constructive way and never violent or imposing.

But, we remember, reincarnation, or reincarnation planning, only happens in an “impositional” way when the Spirit does not yet have the consciousness developed to the point of understanding the needs for its advancement. It is at this point that he is constrained to reincarnate, by other Spirits who, in the name of charity, dedicate themselves to such a task.

From the moment, however, in which the Spirit develops its own awareness of its own imperfections and the need to correct them, it starts to act positively in this process, often requesting a new incarnation, full of tests and atonements, with the purpose of learning and correcting its imperfections.

Therefore, the incarnation, the present life, is a divine gift, a blessed opportunity to readjust the factors that, in ourselves, lead us to make mistakes and, therefore, to suffer. It has never been and will never be a punishment or a punishment and, if we ourselves do not increase our sufferings by our own actions, we will be able to go through the trials and atonements many times chosen by us, because we will never be abandoned in this endeavor and, in addition to the brothers who assist us from the spiritual plane, there will always be people around us, ready and often devoted to this planning, to help us.

Dear brothers, let us spread this simple and so powerful truth, so that the brother who is about to give up on life, reconsider his position and that he does not have to, only from the spiritual plane, wrapped in suffering, look back and verify that the suffering that he was going through was about to end and that he had a lot to help him change, never to suffer like that again, if he had his will very firm and decided. And remember, always: we will all reach happiness and perfection, some faster than others, by the action of their own will:

133. Do spirits who from the beginning have followed the path of good need incarnation?

“All are created simple and ignorant and are instructed in the struggles and tribulations of bodily life. God, who is just, could not make some happy, without toil and work, therefore without merit.”

The) - But, then, what is the use of spirits to have followed the path of good, if this does not exempt them from the sufferings of bodily life?

“They reach the end faster. Furthermore, the afflictions of life are often the consequence of the imperfection of the Spirit. The fewer imperfections, the less torments. He who is neither envious, nor jealous, nor greedy, nor ambitious, will not suffer the tortures that arise from these defects.”

The Book of Spirits

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