In this issue we continue the study of the book Posthumous Works, published after Allan Kardec disembodied and containing texts written by him. The present work is based on the translation made by Dr. Guillon Ribeiro, published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation.
Questions for discussion
127. Are instincts helpful or harmful?
128. Why did man become selfish?
129. Does the virtue – called abnegation - have something to do with Charity and Fraternity?
130. Is it possible to remove selfishness and pride from our social environment?
131. How can the acceptance of reincarnation affect this issue?
Answers to the proposed questions
127. Are instincts helpful or harmful?
All instincts have their reason for being and their usefulness, because God does nothing useless. God did not create evil; it was man who did it due to the abusive way he used God’s gifts and his own free will. Therefore, instincts, within their limits, are good; it is their use in extremes what makes them bad and pernicious; the same happens to all passions that man often deviates from their providential purpose. (Posthumous Works - Selfishness and Pride).
128. Why did man become selfish?
God did not create man, selfish and proud; He created man, simple and ignorant. It was man, who became selfish and proud, exaggerating the instinct that God gave him for his own preservation. Men cannot live happy, if they do not live in peace, i.e., if they are not kind, forgiving, and willingly to each other. In a word: they will not live in peace, while they wish to overwhelm each other. (Posthumous Works - Selfishness and Pride).
129. Does the virtue – called abnegation - have something to do with Charity and Fraternity?
Yes. Charity and Fraternity summarize all the conditions and all social duties, but both assume selflessness. It turns out that self-denial is incompatible with selfishness and pride; so with these two vices there is no true brotherhood, because the selfish and proud want everything for them. They are there because of the rodents worms of all progressive institutions; while they reign, the most generous social systems, more wisely combined, will collapse under their blows.
It is thus necessary to attack the principle of evil: pride and selfishness. Those, who seriously want the good for Humanity, must focus their attention on this main point, because while these obstacles persist, they will see their efforts blocked, not only by an inertial resistance, but also by an active force that will work unceasingly to destroy their work, since every great, generous and emancipatory idea ruins all personal ambitions. (Posthumous Works - Selfishness and Pride).
130. Is it possible to remove selfishness and pride from our social environment?
Of course. Some, however, consider this an impossible thing, because these vices are inherent to the human species. If this were so, it would be necessary to despair of all moral progress; however, when considering man in his different ages, we must agree that he has made good progress. But if he progressed, he can progress further. On the other hand, there are many in the world utterly devoid of pride and selfishness, in which the feelings of love for others, humbleness, devotion and selflessness seem innate. However, it is a fact that their number is smaller than the selfish; otherwise the latter would not make the laws; but there are more of them than what is believed, and if they look so few in number, it is because pride shows up, while modesty remains in the shade.
To overcome selfishness and pride, it is necessary to destroy everything that causes and sustains them. The main of these causes is, of course, the false idea that man has of his own nature, his past and future. Not knowing where he comes from, he believes he is more than what he really is; not knowing where he is going to, he concentrates his thoughts on earthly life; he wants it as pleasant as possible and, due to this, he wants full satisfaction, all pleasures. Now, if each person desires the same things, it causes constant conflicts, and therefore man ends up by paying a high price for all his enjoyments.
If man becomes aware of his future life, his view will change completely, as an individual who may only stay for a few hours in an evil house and who knows that, when he leaves, he will have another magnificent house for the rest of his days.
The importance of his present life, so sad, so short, so transitory, vanishes when compared to the splendor of the infinite future that opens before him. The logic and natural consequence of this certainty is to sacrifice a fleeting present aiming at a sustainable future, whereas before he sacrificed everything to his present life. When his afterlife becomes his purpose, he does not care to have a little more, or a little less in this life; worldly interests become accessories, instead of being the principal; he works at present to ensure his position in the future and knows in what conditions he can be happy.
The cause of pride is the belief that man is superior; and it is here too where he is affected by concentrating on an earthly life. The man that sees nothing before him, nothing after him, nothing above him, then his personality carries him away and there is nothing left to oppose to his pride.
Incredulity cannot fight pride, and instead it stimulates it, because it denies a high power to Humanity. The unbeliever only believes in himself; so it is therefore natural that he should be affected by pride; when blows strike him, he sees only chance, while he, who has faith, sees God's hand and bends his head. To believe in God and in afterlife is, therefore, the first condition to moderate pride, but this is not enough; we need to see the future, as well as the past, to have a fair idea of the present.
For the pride man to stop believing in his superiority it is necessary to prove to him that he is not superior to others, and others are as much as he is; and that equality is a fact and not merely a beautiful philosophical theory, and these facts come from the pre-existence of the soul and from reincarnation. (Posthumous Works - Selfishness and Pride).
131. How can the acceptance of reincarnation affect this issue?
The Spirits can be reborn in different social conditions, as expiation or trial. Reincarnation shows us that the one we disregard today, could have been a man, who was our superior or equal to us in another life, a friend or a relative. If man was aware of this, he would treat him with respect, but then he would have no merit; on the other hand, if he knew that his present friend was his enemy, his servant or his slave in the past, he would keep him at a distance. But God did not want this to be like this, so He cast a veil over the past; thus, man is led to see brothers and equals in all, and this makes it possible to develop a natural brotherhood.
Knowing that he will be treated as he treated others, Charity becomes a duty and a need, founded both on Nature itself. By accepting reincarnation, man also understands the solidarity that exists between the present, past and future and thus his personal significance vanishes. He becomes aware that by himself he is nothing and he can do nothing; and that we all need the others, a second strong blow to his pride and selfishness.
However, for this purpose, he has to have faith, without which he will be bound in the routine of the present. Not the blind faith that flees from light, limits the ideas and, therefore, encourages selfishness, but the intelligent faith, reasoned, that wants the light and not the darkness and that rashly rips the veil of mystery and broadens the horizon. It is this faith, the first element of all progress, that Spiritism brings a strong faith because it is founded on experience and facts, since it gives tangible proof of the immortality of the soul and teaches man where he comes from, where he is going to, and why he is on this Earth. (Posthumous Works - Selfishness and Pride).
