Unhappiness under a new perspective

One of Chico Xavier's sister-in-laws gave birth to a son who presented what we considered abnormalities: atrophied arms and legs, eyes covered by a thick mist that kept him in complete darkness and a face so deformed that it frightened those who saw him. Such it was the appearance of the boy that his mother upon seeing him had a shock and ended up interned in a mental hospital. Chico took charge of raising his nephew.

It was not easy to take care of the child. He had to medicate him, bathe him, and apply an enema daily. The nephew could not swallow, and so Chico had to form a small ball with food, put it into his throat and shoved with his finger.

The arduous task continued for about twelve years.

When his nephew got worse, Chico prayed hard that he would not be disincarnated, because he loved him like a son. Emmanuel once explained: "He will only discarnate when the lung begins to develop and do not find space. Then, any cold can turn into a pneumonia and he will go away."

Near the age of twelve, the boy was afflicted with a severe flu and began to wither away. Moments before the denouement, his eyes opened and he could see. The boy then looked at Chico and tried to translate in that look all his gratitude for the good that he had done to him. Emmanuel, who was watching the scene, declared: "Thank God! It is the first time, after a hundred and fifty years, that his eyes turn to the light. His past debts have been settled. Praised be Jesus."

The above story consists in one of the books that Adelino da Silveira wrote about the life and work of the beloved medium. It is called "Chico, de Francisco".

Sufferings, misfortunes, trials like the one described are very common on our planet. The news of the big press is full of reports of the same nature.

The question then arises: Why do such events occur in the world in which we live?

If we exclude reincarnation and its unfolding from the narrative, it is very difficult to give any explanation. And - truth be told - even admitting the law of successive lives, it is not easy to understand certain situations that impose unspeakable suffering on man.

Dealing directly with the subject, Delfina de Girardin (Spirit) draws our attention to an aspect not remembered in the comments we make when tragedies and misfortunes occur.

She says:

"To judge anything, we need to see the consequences. Thus, in order to appreciate what is in fact blissful or indifferent to man, we must carry ourselves beyond this life, for it is there that the consequences are felt. Now what is called unhappiness, according to the narrow human views, ceases with bodily life and finds its compensation in the future life. (...)

God is not mistaken; no one escapes from destiny; and the trials, creditors more merciless than the pack that misery sets in, lurk in the illusory rest, in order to immerse you suddenly in the agony of true unhappiness, that which surprises the soul dampened by indifference and selfishness." (The Gospel according to Spiritism, chapter V, item 24.) [We wrote it in bold] 

In fact, if we examine the case of Chico Xavier's nephew, we will conclude that the sufferings and limitations he endured for 12 years compelled him to take out his debts to the Law, which he himself contracted in the past and led him to a blindness that lasted for 150 years - 138 in erraticity and 12 years in his short bodily existence.

By making an objective balance in the light of Spiritism, we could never call unhappiness what he suffered, first because the situation he faced was nothing more than the consequence of his own actions; second, because his physical problems ceased with the death of his body; third, because he was quite upset with the Law that governs our lives, and thus harmonized, he could freely resume his journey towards the perfection for which we have all been created.