Among the many exploits produced by the Hubble telescope, some deserve special attention. I am referring to ten absolutely stunning images. They are simply exuberant photos, that is, true masterpieces carved in full cosmos by an exceptional celestial artist: God. In them we can perceive some of the greatness of the Creator manifested in the contours and colors of the Sombrero Galaxy, which is 28 million light years from Earth, and has a breathtaking appearance (by the way, it houses 800 billion suns and has a diameter of 50,000 light-years); of the Ant Nebula, essentially composed of a cloud of cosmic dust and gas, far from our Galaxy, and Earth, between 3,000 and 6,000 light-years; of the Eskimo Nebula, which resembles a face surrounded by a hat or wrinkled cap, that is, a ring formed by structures or debris of dead stars, and distant about 5,000 light-years from our planet; of the Cat's Eye Nebula, which has a bulging eye that looks like the one of the sorcerer Sauron from The Lord of the Rings; of the Hourglass Nebula, distant 8,000 light-years, and which presents a singular strangulation in the middle due to the winds that shape it; of the Cone Nebula, which is 2.5 light-years in length, equivalent to 23 million laps around the Moon; of the Perfect Storm, that is to say, a small region of the Swan Nebula, distant 5,500 light-years (composed of an ocean of hydrogen, as well as of small amounts of oxygen, sulfur and other elements); of the Starry Night, so named for recalling the famous painting by Van Gogh; of the enigmatic swirl of "furious" eyes, that is, two galaxies that literally merge (called NGC 2207 and IC 2163), 114 million light-years distant in the distant Constellation of the Canis Major; and finally the Trifid Nebula, a wonderful "star nursery", located 9,000 light-years from Earth, and the place where the new stars are born (Source: https://fla.st/2ZJuhXP - Accessed on 12/25/2018).

In spite of such expressive cosmic works, there is a considerable contingent of human creatures who doubt the existence of a greater power that rules the whole Universe: they are the atheists who are still present on Earth. Statistics indicate that there are about 749.2 million (11% of world population) of them in our orb. They represent 85% of the population of Sweden, 81% of Vietnam, 80% of Denmark, 72% of Norway, 65% of Japan, 61% of the Czech Republic, 60% of Finland, 54% of France and 52% of South Korea.

The countries with the highest absolute number of atheists are China (181.8 million), Japan (82 million), Russia (69 million), Vietnam (66 million), Germany (40 million), France (32 million), USA 26.8 million), England (26.5 million) and South Korea (25 million). It should be noted that 8% of Brazilians are atheists, agnostics and no religion. Considering the gender, atheists are subdivided into 56% men and 44% women. Within the scientific area, it is estimated that about 10% consider themselves atheists.

Another surprising fact was revealed by a study conducted by the Center for Tendencies and Research of the Experimental Space FAMECOS / PUCRS of 2015, called Ideas and Aspirations of the Brazilian Youth on Family Concepts. The study focused on 1,500 young people, 82.5% of the sample being between 18 and 24 years old and 17.5% from 25 to 34 years old. The research brought to the fore that 19.3% declared themselves atheists and 6.2% agnostics, that is, more than 1/4 fails to develop an elementary notion of God in their lives. By the way, I am writing about this subject because I recently spoke with a young woman - a Bachelor in Biology from USP - who confided in me that she was an atheist. She told me as clearly as she could that she was suffering from prejudice in her opinion. I admit I was surprised a priori to find out that someone who studied this area of ​​knowledge, was not able to see the "hand of God" permeating Nature.

Recovering quickly from the initial shock, I tried to argue by alluding to the perceptible divine signs that cover everything. I was not successful, because I found an impassible barrier on the part of my interlocutor. I asked her if she had had religious education in her childhood, and she said yes. I asked her if she had read Allan Kardec's The Genesis, that offers us a rich treatise on divinity, among other subjects, and she also nodded. Having said this, I had only to inquire whether any content had touched the fringe of her being. To my disappointment, she denied. In fact, she insinuated that I intended to persuade her. I, more than quickly, informed her that in matters of faith we are the ones that convince ourselves.

I felt compelled to tell her about Jesus, His luminous work, His miracles, the vision of Tabor, the apparitions shortly after His treacherous death, the exponential growth of the Christian movement, and so on. However, I perceived undisguised signs of disdain on the part of the young woman. Faced with the picture of radicalism I envisioned, as well as the futility of any discussion, I realized that, unfortunately, there was nothing else to do... I deeply regretted that there are still human beings on the face of the Earth who cannot even feel the presence of God in their hearts and their intelligence. Besides not being able to explain the crucial phenomena of life, they vehemently deny the existence of a superior force. So I prayed fervently for this girl, who has not yet discovered God.

I imagined the very hard experiences she will face in this bitter phase of planetary turbulence, with her hard collective and individual atonement, without a faith, without a belief, without an inner light to comfort her in times of pain and despair. Poor in Spirit, I think, are the creatures that close completely to the appeals from the Highest to reason. Unhappy are those who are systematically opposed to the rays of universal love.

In fact, it would be better if they accepted the sensible recommendation of the Spiritist philosopher J. Herculano Pires, as stated in the book Spiritual Liberation:

"Man must restrain himself in the limits of himself, take care of his imperfections, and improve himself. It is enough to know that God exists, and that He is just and good. He cannot doubt this, because “by the work we recognize the worker”, Nature itself attests the existence of God, his own conscience tells him that He exists, and the general law of evolution proves His justice and His goodness. [...] ".

In fact, if there is something that Humanity has never lacked, it was the sending of divine missionaries attesting to the existence of God. For the truth, we have never been abandoned by the Creator; God has always supplied us with His infinite love. As Emmanuel correctly pointed out in the book The Path of Light(Psychographics of Francisco Candido Xavier), "All the races of the Earth owe to the Jews this sacred benefit, which consists in the revelation of the One God, Father of all creatures and Providence of all beings".

The wise mentor also recalls that:

"The great legislator of the Hebrews brought the determination of Jesus, with respect to the simplification of the initiatory formulas, for the general understanding of the people; Moses' mission was to make accessible to popular sentiment the great lessons that other initiates were compelled to conceal. And in fact, among all the great figures of Antiquity, his figure stands out as the first to rip the curtain that weighs on the highest knowledge, filtering the light of religious truth to the simple and generous soul of the people”.

Further advancing the elucidation of the subject, Emmanuel proposes that:

"The Nirvana, examined in its most profound expressions, should be considered as the permanent union of the soul with God, the purpose of all evolutionary paths; never, however, as a synonym of imperturbable stillness or the beatific realization of not being. Life is the harmony of movements, resulting from ceaseless exchanges in the bosom of visible and invisible Nature. Its maintenance depends on the activity of all worlds and all beings. Each individual, in atonement, in redemption, or in divine glory, has a definite task, and improvement of its own values. Those who have learned the good things of life and those who teach them with love multiply in God and the Earth the infinite gifts of God".

Thus, Emmanuel finally leads us to conclude that "All reality is that of the Spirit and all peace is the understanding of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness".

Allan Kardec, in turn, reveals in the work of his authorship mentioned above (Chapter II), with great acuity, that "God does not show Himself, but is revealed by His works”.

The Encoder of Spiritism deduced in his studies that:

"[...] the existence of God is therefore a proven reality not only by revelation, but also by the material evidence of the facts. Wild people had no revelation; however, they instinctively believe in the existence of some superhuman power. They see things that are above the possibilities of man and deduce that these things come from an entity higher than mankind. Do they not demonstrate reasoning more logically than those who claim that such things appeared by themselves?

Kardec comments with full reason that:

 "[...] In order to understand God, we still lack the sense that is acquired only through the complete purification of the Spirit. But if man cannot penetrate the essence of God, it can have as premise its existence. Man can then, by reason, come to know the necessary attributes and conclude that these attributes can only be divine, hence deducing who God is".

Thanks to the herculean effort of the Encoder we are informed that God is the expression of the supreme intelligence; He is eternal; immutable; immaterial; omnipotent; He is sovereignly just and good; infinitely perfect; and is unique. The arguments gathered by Kardec are so eloquent that we are naturally led to conclude that "It is like this, based on His works, that one can prove the existence of God, by simple logical deduction that one can determine the attributes which characterize Him".

And this is the key-question mentioned by Kardec: logical deduction. How do we, impure and imperfect Spirits, pretend to have direct access to the Creator? Normally, the skeptic, in his peculiar arrogance, considers this right, without, however, considering the necessary premises for that, i.e., the non-transferable conquest of faith and his own spiritual development. Moreover, the atheist, in his immeasurable ignorance, cannot conceive that "... the whole Nature is immersed in the divine fluid. [...]", as Kardec points out. The Spirit Emmanuel ponders, with absolute reason, in Way, Truth and Life (also psychographics by Francisco Candido Xavier) that "The one that cannot believe in God is sick [...]". Moreover, "Man can do nothing without God". Therefore, I believe that only highly conceited and insipient individuals do not feel God. Living divorced from God is walking without direction. In parallel, even limited human science today is capable of conceiving God as one of the stakeholders. Having said this, Emmanuel warns that "deep inside there is only one Father who is God and a great family that is made up of brothers" (Chapter 20). For him, "Life should constitute, by all of us, a strict observance of the sacred interests of God" (Chapter 21).

The Enlightened Spiritual Mentor teaches that: "God is the magnanimous and just Father. A father does not distribute ailments. He corrects and every correction leads to improvement" (Chapter 26). Concurrently, Emmanuel clarifies that "Good flows incessantly from God and God is the Father of all men. [...]" (Chapter 42). Turning once more to logic, he proposes that "God is the Eternal Creator whose designs remain unsearchable to us. By His unveiled love all beings are created, and by His wisdom the worlds in the Unlimited move” (Chapter 54). Therefore, we cannot - through our narrow senses and knowledge - define or delineate something so far above us. Especially us, still on the first steps of transcendental thinking.

Certainly we will have many revelations at the appropriate time... Anyway, Emmanuel also comments (Chapter 61) that:

 "Men have not yet understood that the opportunity to cooperate in the works of the Earth turns them into stewards of the grace of God. However, the time will come when everyone will feel rich. The notion of “capitalist” and “worker” will be renewed. Both will be understood as efficient servants of the Highest".

Therefore, to discover God is the duty and mission of every intelligent being. It is the first great step on the path of the immortal Spirit. To rediscover it within us may be our greatest achievement, for through it other important ones will be obtained in due time. Finding God is enlightening. Further, no one can know himself without the help of the Creator. To deny it, on the other hand, is a sign of disintegration and deep spiritual backwardness. As well explained by J. Herculano Pires, in the aforementioned work:

 "To deny God is, for Spiritism, to deny the sun. The atheist, the unbeliever, is not a condemned, irrevocable sinner, but a blind man whose eyes can be opened, and indeed will be. Because God is necessarily exists according to the Cartesian principle. Nothing can be understood without God. He is the center and the raison d'être of everything that exists. Taking God out of the Universe is like taking the sun out of our system. It is simply an absurd".

In this way, therefore, we can only conclude that the persistence of atheism on Earth, in the third millennium of the Christian era, is due only to the inexplicable neglect of certain humans who close themselves to the light of universal wisdom.