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Ricardo
Baesso de
Oliveira |
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Compliance
with the
Law
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Allan
Kardec
states
that
many
events
that
take
place in
our
lives
were
previously
foreseen,
although
it is
possible
to a
certain
extent
to
change
their
route,
as well
as
reincarnation
commitments.
Events
such as
place of
birth,
marriage,
children,
profession,
major
sufferings,
such as
congenital
and
other
diseases,
besides
the type
of
death,
and the
approximate
date to
disembody,
have
often
been
previously
chosen,
known,
expected
or
anticipated
by the
earthly
evolution
Protectors.
We find
in
Kardec’s
works
clarifying
quotes:
The Spirits -
with the same
tastes, same
moral progress
and affection –
come together
and form
families. (The
Gospel according
to Spiritism,
Chapter XIV,
item 09)
Why are there
certain
tendencies in
some people and
why do they have
the wish of
following a
determined
career instead
of another? I
believe you can
answer this
question for
yourselves. Is
this not a
consequence of
all we have said
about the choice
of evidence and
the progress
made in an
earlier life?
(The Book of
Spirits, item
270)
Do not reject
the son who
fights off his
mother by force,
or the one who
repays you with
ingratitude: it
was not chance
that made him
like this and
sent him to you.
(The Gospel
according to
Spiritism,
Chapter XIV,
item 09)
Birth in such or
such a family is
not an effect of
the case, but it
often depends on
the choice made
by the Spirit
(What is
Spiritism,
Chapter III,
item 122).
Only great
pains, and
events that are
important and
capable of
influencing your
moral evolution
are foreseen
(The Book of the
Spirits, item
859-a)
It is in death
that man is
totally subject
to the mortal
law of fatality,
because he
cannot escape
the decree that
determines the
end of his life,
nor the kind of
death that will
interrupt it.
(The Book of
Spirits, item
872)
The situations
of a karmic
nature related
previously, and
many others,
will occur as a
result of the
evolutionary
needs of the
reincarnating
entity, related
to the nature of
faults he
committed,
imperfections
that need to be
debugged, or
with affections
that need to be
reworked, or
with knowledge
that he wishes
to acquire. In
short: living a
certain
experience for
spiritual
growth. We
checked with
Kardec:
The Spirit may
want to be born
among people
with an evil
life to have the
opportunity to
fight against
the instinct of
banditry (The
Book of Spirits,
item 260).
Some chose to
live a life of
misery and
deprivation, to
try to bear it
with courage;
others
experience the
temptations of
fortune and
power (The Book
of Spirits, item
264).
To be reborn in
the same
environment in
which he lived,
and to have a
relationship
with the same
people, in order
to repair the
evil that he has
done to them
(The Gospel
according to
Spiritism,
Chapter V, item
11).
To live among
backward peoples
to help they
advance faster
(The Book of
Spirits, item
273).
Live the
experience
Kardec
establishes, in
a precise way,
the fundamental
objective of
reincarnation in
item 634 of The
Book of Spirits:
...If there were
no mountains,
man would not
understand that
he could go up
and down; if
there were no
rocks, ne would
not understand
that there are
hard bodies. The
Spirit needs to
gain experience.
It is necessary,
therefore, to be
aware of good
and evil. That
is why it joins
the body.
To progress is,
in a way, like
learning how to
ride a bicycle.
Who wants to do
it, does he
enroll in a
course or buy
the manual "How
to ride a bike"?
No! The
apprentice
climbs on the
bike and tries
to ride. He will
stumble a few
times, until his
brain, "taming"
the
balance-related
circuits,
automates the
process and
learns to ride
without falling.
One only
progresses by
living the
experience! We
may feel sorry
for someone who
loses a loved
one; we can even
try to put
ourselves in his
place, but to
live the reality
of a loss is
possible only to
the one who
truly loses a
loved one.
Imagining the
pain of a
herniated disc
is something
that our mind
can try, but
only those who
have had it know
what it means.
Reincarnation,
then, allows us
to live
different
experiences,
which are always
experiences of
growth.
The experience
of scarcity and
the experience
of abundance,
the professional
challenge and
perseverance,
the frustration
with love,
chronic illness
and the
limitation of
one of the
senses; there
are many
experiences
where the
reincarnating
individual is
inserted:
solitude,
beauty,
ugliness,
unemployment,
financial
disaster,
unfavorable
genetics of
social vices and
chemical
addiction,
pernicious
environment, bad
example of
parents, and so
on.
How do facts
happen?
The news
reports:
A famous actor
dies drowned.
The plane
crashes and
dozens of
athletes die.
The pregnant
woman is
contaminated by
"zica" and the
baby is born
with serious
intellectual
deficiency.
The teenager
"catches" dengue
and dies of
generalized
hemorrhage.
The rural worker
is bitten by a
rattlesnake and
dies of kidney
failure
To understand
how karmic
events happen is
often extremely
difficult, but
we can think
about this issue
and try, at
least in part,
to understand
the mechanism
responsible for
enforcing the
Law of Cause and
Effect. Leon
Denis, in After
Death,
states that the
inflexible Laws
of Nature, or
rather, the
resulting
effects of the
past, decide on
reincarnation.
The Lower
Spirit, ignorant
of these laws,
little cautious
of his future,
mechanically
suffers his fate
and comes to
take his place
on Earth under
the impulse of a
force that he
does not even
try to know. Andre
Luiz, on the
other hand, also
clarifies when
he states, in
the book Between
the Earth and
Heaven, Chapter
28, that
the Law of Cause
and Effect is
performed
without need of
supervision on
our part. Andre
Luiz adds, in Workers
of Eternal Life,
Chapter XI:
[...]
reincarnations
and
disincarnating,
in general, obey
simply the law.
There are
biogenetic
principles
guiding the
world of living
forms to the
occasion of
physical rebirth
[...]
From the above,
we can say that
we are all
inserted in a
physical-psychic
automatism
governed by the
natural order,
which registers,
evaluates and
responds to all
our acts.
Healthy, useful
and noble
attitudes put us
in a causal
reaction that
promotes
well-being. On
the contrary,
unhealthy, and
individual
attitudes that
interfere
negatively with
the well-being
of others
attract
situations of
anguish and
suffering as an
educational
resource of the
law. But how
does this
happen? We
present as
hypothesis three
possible
mechanisms.
Mechanism I: the
zone of remorse
According to
John 8:34, when
Jesus stated: he
who commits sin
is the slave of
sin, He
wanted to show
that our errors
walk with us,
imprinted in our
minds, until we
are freed from
them. Andre Luiz
in the book Evolution
in two worlds,
part II, Chapter
XIX, made use of
the expression
"zone of
remorse". Andre
comments that,
in general, the
etiologies, the
study of the
causes of
chronic
diseases, which
afflict the
physical body
and tear it
down, keeps its
root causes in
the spiritual
body. The record
of this or that
serious fault
creates in the
mind an
anomalous state
which he
classifies as a
"zone of
remorse," around
which the
continuous and
lively wave of
thought is
confused in a
closed circuit
on itself, with
permanent
reflection in
the part of the
physical body
linked to the
remembrance of
the persons and
circumstances
associated with
the error of our
authorship.
Having
established the
fixed idea about
this "lump of
unbalanced
mental forces",
it is
fundamental that
reparative
events fight our
sick way of
being, so that
we feel
discharged from
that, or that
inner bundle, or
exactly redeemed
before the Law.
This kind of
formation of
cysts of deep
energies, in the
“imo” of our
soul, express
the so-called
karmic debts,
because they are
affiliated with
unfortunate
causes that we
ourselves shape
in the path of
destiny, and
which are
perfectly
transferable
from one life to
another. Thus,
the author
continues,
remorse provokes
diverse dystonia
in our hidden
forces,
disarticulating
the synergies of
the spiritual
body, creating
morbid
predispositions
for this or that
illness.
Some karmic
events can be
explained by the
mentioned
mechanism. Let's
look at an
example: a
certain Spirit
has committed
himself, in past
existences, to
the abuse of
alcoholic
beverages and
has committed
moral failings
due to this
vice, harming
many people. He
can then
reincarnate with
marks in the
areas of the
perispirit that
are responsible
for the
vitalization of
the digestive
system. These
marks will be
creating a
predisposition
to the onset of
diseases, such
as chronic
gastritis or
liver
dysfunctions.
Thus, the Spirit
reincarnates
with
"weaknesses" in
his perispirit,
which determine
the organs that
are most
predisposed to
become ill. If
the Spirit is
going to get
sick, or not,
that can depend,
of course, on
the lifestyle
and moral
conduct that he
adopts.
An equivalent
concept can be
applied to the
genesis of
certain mental
disorders,
because the
brain is an
organ like any
other. Thus, if
in the past the
Spirit has
acquired debts
by virtue of the
misuse of its
moral intellect
attributes, it
can create
karmic marks in
its perispirit
in the region
corresponding to
the brain. By
reincarnating,
it will bring
with it
tendencies to
chemical
imbalances in
his brain
neurotransmitters.
If this
neurochemical
imbalance
occurs, the
reincarnated
individual may
suffer from
so-called
"mental"
diseases (which
are actually
cerebral), such
as depression,
obsessive-compulsive
disorders,
phobias,
schizophrenia,
etc. Obviously,
in addition to
karmic factors,
current factors
must be
considered,
often as or even
more important
than past
factors.
Mechanism II:
post-hypnotic
suggestion
In the Spiritist
Magazine of
March 1858,
Kardec reports
on a letter he
received from
one of his
readers, which
states:
“In the last
September, a
light vessel,
crossing from
Dunkirk to
Ostend, was
surprised at
night by a
storm; the boat
turned over, and
out of a total
of eight, four
perished; the
other four, in
the number of
which I found
myself, were
able to remain
hanging to the
keel. We stayed
the whole night
in this horrible
position, with
no other
perspective but
to wait for
death, which
seemed
inevitable and
from which we
experienced all
the anguish. At
dawn, the winds
pushed us and we
were able to
swim to the
shore. Why was
it that in this
dangerous
situation, only
four people
died? You see,
for me, it is
the sixth or
seventh time I
have escaped a
danger so
imminent and
more or less
under the same
circumstances. I
am really led to
believe that the
invisible hand
protects me.
What did I do to
deserve this? I
do not know; I
am an
unimportant and
useless person
in this world,
and I do not
boast of being
worth more than
the others; far
from it: among
the victims of
the accident was
a worthy
ecclesiastic,
model of
evangelical
virtues, and a
venerable sister
of St. Vincent
de Paul, who
were to perform
a holy mission
of Christian
charity. Fate
seems to play a
great part in my
destiny. Were
the Spirits not
there for
something? Could
an explanation
be obtained from
them, asking
them, for
example, if they
are the ones
that cause or
drive away the
dangers that
threaten us? "
According to the
wishes of his
correspondent,
Kardec addressed
some questions
to the Spirit
St. Louis. We
highlight some
of them:
When an imminent
danger threatens
someone, is it a
Spirit that
drives the
danger on to
him, and when he
escapes, is it
another Spirit
that drives it
away?
A: When a Spirit
incarnates, it
chooses a trial;
when choosing
it, it
establishes a
kind of fate
that it can no
longer conjure,
once it is
submitted to it;
I speak of
physical
evidence. By
retaining his
free will on
good and evil,
the Spirit can
always bear or
repel the test.
Is fatality that
seems to preside
over the
material
destinies of our
life also result
from our free
will?
A: You yourself
have chosen your
test. The harder
it is and the
better you will
bear it, the
more you will
progress. Those
who spend their
lives in
abundance and
human happiness
are fainthearted
Spirits, who
remain
stationary. Thus
the number of
the unfortunate
is far superior
to that of the
happy in this
world, mindful
that Spirits,
for the most
part, seek the
most fruitful
tests. They see
perfectly well
the futility of
your greatness
and joys.
Moreover, the
most blissful
existence is
always agitated,
always
disturbed, even
when there is
absence of pain.
We fully
understand this
doctrine, but
this does not
explain to us
whether certain
Spirits exercise
a direct action
on the material
cause of the
accident.
Suppose a bridge
collapses the
moment a man
passes over it.
Who impelled the
man to go
through this
bridge?
A: When a man
passes over a
bridge that must
fall, it is not
a Spirit that
leads him to
pass there; it
is the instinct
of his destiny
that leads him
to it.
Can the Spirits
warn us directly
of danger? Here
is one fact that
seems to confirm
it: A woman left
the house and
headed down the
boulevard. An
intimate voice
says to her: Go
away; return to
your home. She
hesitates. The
same voice is
heard several
times; then she
comes back; but,
thinking better,
she says to
herself: “What
am I going to do
in my house? I
just left it; no
doubt it is my
imagination. So
she goes on her
way. A few steps
later, a beam
that they pulled
from a house
hits her on the
head and knocks
her down,
unconscious.
What voice was
that? Was not
that a hint of
what was going
to happen to
this woman?
A: The voice of
instinct; no
presentiment, in
fact, has such
characters: they
are always
vague.
What do you mean
by instinct?
A: I understand
that, before
incarnating, the
Spirit has
knowledge of all
phases of its
life; when these
phases have a
fundamental
character, it
preserves a kind
of impression in
its intimate
forum and such
impression,
awakening as the
moment
approaches,
becomes a
foreboding.
This voice
of destiny,
that is,
something that
awakens when the
moment
approaches and
which Saint
Louis uses to
explain the
forebodings, can
also be used to
explain certain
facts that occur
in our life, and
that do not have
a logical
explanation.
That's how
Ernesto Bozzano
thinks. Bozzano
believes that
these facts can
be explained
through the
phenomenon of
post-hypnotic
suggestion.
Let's look at an
example of the
post-hypnotic
suggestion: An
operator
addressed the
hypnotized
patient as
follows:
"Ten minutes
after waking,
you will feel a
burning desire
to open your
umbrella,
regardless of
the time
(whether sun or
rain) and then
close it. You
will not know
that I have
determined this.
You will do it
simply, without
any logical
reason". The
patient is awake
and in due time
does exactly
what he was told
to do, without
realizing why he
did what he did.
According to
this hypothesis,
Bozzano believes
that the
reincarnated
Spirit
unconsciously looks
for the
experiences
necessary for
its improvement,
from
self-constructed
suggestions in
his mind and
related to the
proofs and
atonements that
he must
experience.
Let's look at a
practical
situation: An
entity was
negatively
committed
through the use
of hands. The
wrong attitude
imprints on his
mind the
misconduct. The
need to pacify
his guilty
conscience
functions as the
post-hypnotic
suggestion. The
mentioned entity
reincarnates,
and temporarily
forgets the
past, but
carries with it
the suggestion
previously
inscribed in
itself. One day,
he goes and
visits carpentry
and distracted,
without
realizing it, he
puts one hand on
a sharp cutting
blade, suffering
a serious
injury, with the
loss of some
fingers or the
whole hand.
Thus, the Law of
Cause and Effect
was fulfilled
through a
physical-psychic
automatism
governed by the
natural order.
Bozzano wrote in Premonitory
Phenomena:
If the
terrestrial
existence
represents only
a ring of an
indefinite chain
of successive
lives, and if
the Spirit, in
the hour of its
reincarnation,
pre-establishes
itself - for the
purpose of
atonement,
proof, spiritual
perfection – to
which he must
submit to his
new incarnate
existence; if
these events are
extinguished
from his
physiological
memory at his
entrance into
life, they
remain, however,
recorded in his
sub-consciousness,
from which they
emerge one day,
they are carried
out by a process
analogous to
that by which
post-hypnotic
suggestions
stand out.
Mechanism III:
intervention of
the beyond
Facts happen in
our lives where
it seems obvious
the performance
of disembodied
entities, for
good as well as
for evil. Kardec
admitted this in
several items in The Book
of Spirits:
A man must
perish; then he
climbs a ladder,
it breaks and he
dies. Were the
Spirits who
broke the ladder
to fulfill the
fate of this
man? - In the
example you
mention, the
ladder breaks
because it's
cracked or not
strong enough to
support the
man's weight; if
it were in this
man's fate to
die in this way,
they would
inspire him the
thought of
climbing the
ladder that was
to break with
his weight.
(Item 526)
A man must die
through
lightning; he
hides under a
tree, the
lightning
flashes and he
dies. Could the
Spirits have
caused the
thunderbolt by
driving it on to
him? The
thunderbolt
exploded on that
tree, and at
that moment,
because the fact
was in the Laws
of Nature. It
was not directed
to the tree
because the man
was there, but
the man was
given the
inspiration to
take refuge in a
tree, on which
he was to
explode. (Item
527)
An evil man
shoots another
man, but the
projectile only
causes a scratch
without reaching
the man. Could a
Benevolent
Spirit have
deflected the
shot? - If the
individual is
not to be
reached, the
beneficent
Spirit will
inspire the
thought of him
to deviate, or
even be able to
overshadow his
enemy, so as to
disturb his
aim... (Item
528)
The matter is
complex and open
to new ideas. We
hope that others
will be willing
to examine it.
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