INTRODUCTORY
REMARKS
In the Spiritist
environment, it is
common to spread the
idea that reincarnation
aims to pay off debts
contracted in past
lives. Such an idea,
however, raises mistakes
regarding the
understanding of the
functioning of the Law
of Cause and Effect and
of Divine Justice
itself, as well as the
understanding of the
purpose of
reincarnation.
According to the
Spiritist Doctrine, the
Spirit who commits
violations of the Law of
God is punished by
physical suffering, in
the corporeal world. And
by moral suffering, in
the Spiritual world, so
that his afflictions
constitute, at the same
time, an atonement of
faults committed in the
present or past and a
test for the future.
Thus, suffering stems
from our own actions,
current or past,
misaligned with the
Divine Law; we are
therefore heirs of our
own doings. The Creator
does not punish us. We
punish ourselves.
In this context,
Instructor Druso
(Spirit), in
consultation with Andre
Luiz and Hilario, who is
found in chapter XIX of
the book Action and
Reaction, when
lecturing on the
decisive influence of
mental states on organic
balance/imbalance, says
that:
“[...] justice,
being a fundamental
institute of order in
Creation, invariably begins
in ourselves, on
any and every occasion
that we defraud its
principles. Evolution
towards God can be
compared to a divine
journey. Good
constitutes a sign of
free passage to the
heights of Higher Life,
while [...] evil
means a sentence of
interdiction,
constraining us to stops
that are more or less
difficult to readjust.”
To be good is everything
that is in accordance
with the Law of God. In
addition, to be evil
everything that deviates
from it (question 630
of The Book of
Spirits), is enough
to infringe the said
Law, consciously, so
that our conscience, in
some way, becomes
injured, “and every
injury of this kind
determines disturbance
or mutilation in the
organism that
exteriorizes our way of
being”.
THE PURPOSE OF
REINCARNATION
Regarding the purpose of
reincarnation, the
writer and Spiritist
speaker Orson Peter
Carrara clarifies:
“Only ignorance of
Spiritist principles can
generate the idea that
we have to pay with
suffering, and for
someone, debts of past
existences. Here is the
mistake.
What happens is that the
existence of the Spirit
is unique; the corporeal
existences are multiple,
but the integral being
is always the same. The
multiple corporeal
existences fulfill the
purpose of stages of
learning, actually steps
of improvement.
As we are all learning,
we make mistakes. Such
mistakes have
consequences. Such
consequences may result
in damage to ourselves
or to third parties. In
addition, such damages
must be repaired. This
is from the Divine Laws.
Such repairs we owe to
our own conscience, to
life. And, in this
process, we can find
ourselves in distressing
situations, all
resulting from the
mistakes we are involved
in (sic).”
Regarding the subject
under study, we quote
question 167 of The
Book of Spirits,
according to which:
“167. What is the
purpose of
reincarnation?
- Atonement, progressive
improvement of Humanity.
Without that, where
would justice be?”
Let us pay attention to
the fact that the
Superior Spirits were
answering the question
asked by an inhabitant
of a world of atonement
and evidence, that is,
Allan Kardec, hence, in
the answer under study,
the word “atonement”
appears at the beginning
and, in sequence,
"progressive improvement
of mankind". Therefore,
it is evident that,
since the Earth is
inhabited by Spirits
that still do not adjust
to the Law of Cause and
Effect the Greater
Spirituality has
initiated the response
using the word
“atonement”. Thus
emphasizing that to
deserve “to ascend to a
happier planet”, it is
necessary for the Spirit
that rebels against the
Law of God to
reincarnate in an
expiatory world, in
order to readjust itself
before the Law, which
takes place through the
atonements.
This, however, does not
mean that reincarnation
has the purpose of
“paying debts from past
lives”. The readjustment
before the Law of Cause
and Effect – we repeat –
is a necessity for the
Spirit and, as such, is
inherent to the
incarnation in expiatory
worlds, like the Earth.
Such worlds provide the
proper means for amends
to take place.
Thus, it is not possible
for the Integral Being
to ascend spiritually
with an uneasy
conscience. For this
reason, we ourselves,
the Spirits still bound
to the Earth, not
infrequently ask for,
before being reborn,
certain challenges,
limitations and
difficulties to be faced
during the next
corporeal existence, to
effect the readjustment
and, consequently, to
obtain peace with the
conscience itself, where
the Law of God is
written (question 621
of The Book of
Spirits).
In the same line of
thought, Carrara goes on
to state that:
“[...] the distorted
view of Spiritist
principles generates the
erroneous idea that we
are in the world to pay...
We are reborn simply to
continue the
evolutionary process.
However, as yesterday
(here meaning corporeal
existences) we fed
ourselves in excess,
today (currently we are
living in the present
incarnation) we may be
facing a strong
stomachache or even
uncomfortable diarrhea,
simply as an immediate
consequence of gluttony.
Now I ask the reader to
replace the exaggeration
of food with the
different situations
that can be imagined in
other examples. The
example of food is only
comparative” (sic).
For Spiritism, the
progress of Humanity
occurs through
individuals who improve
little by little and
clarify themselves.
Through the efforts of
good men, nations
advance morally and
intellectually.
The progress of peoples
highlights the justice
of reincarnation, which
does not deprive Spirits
of the benefits of
advancing civilization.
In fact, due to the
plurality of existences,
the right to happiness
is always the same for
everyone, since no one
is disinherited by
progress. Consequently,
due to the principle of
solidarity that
flourishes in the divine
work, the works carried
out by previous
generations are used by
later generations.
In this sense,
commenting on the
“parable of the workers
at the last hour”
(Matthew, 20: 1 to 16),
the Spirit Henri Heine
asserts that:
“The beautiful dogma of
reincarnation makes
Spiritual filiation
eternal and precise.
Called to account for
his earthly mandate, the
Spirit realizes the
continuity of the
interrupted task, but
always resumed. He sees
and he feels that he has
picked up, in passing,
the thought of those who
preceded him. He
enters the field again,
matured by experience to
advance further.
In addition, all, first
and last hour workers,
with their eyes wide
open on the profound
justice of God, no
longer murmur: they
adore.
Such is one of the true
meanings of this
parable. It contains,
like all those that
Jesus used when speaking
to the people, the germ
of the future and also,
under all forms, under
all images, the
revelation of the
magnificent unity that
harmonizes all things in
the Universe, of the
solidarity that links
all present beings to
the past and the
future.”
That is, evolution
occurs gradually through
a cumulative process of
intellectual-moral
improvement of the
Spirits, which, through
their action during
their corporeal
existence, also
contribute to the
improvement and
expansion of God's work.
Thus, incarnation is
necessary in order to
put us in a position to
support our part in the
work of Creation. It is
in this way that,
contributing to the
general work, we
progress spiritually
(question 132 of The
Book of Spirits).
In this context, each
bodily existence
therefore represents an
investment made by
Cosmic Consciousness in
us, whose goal is our
own improvement and, by
extension, the
improvement of the world
we inhabit and the
expansion of His own
work.
Thus, recalling the
“parable of the
talents”, narrated by
Jesus, we will have to
account for the
application given by us
of the resources – both
material and Spiritual –
that we brought with us
to the earthly stage.
On the other hand,
talking about negligence
in carrying out the
task, Carrara expands
the reflection, stating
that negligence
naturally results in
consequences:
“Negligence in the past
or even in the present.
Postponed, despised,
abandoned tasks...
Everything brings
reflections. After all,
we reap today the
actions of yesterday and
we are continually
sowing for tomorrow.”
In effect, interrupted,
unfulfilled, partially
completed tasks, etc.,
constitute backlogs that
we acquire, backlogs
that we will carry into
the next existence.
Like students, we cannot
act with ill will, but
with discipline, so that
we do not have to repeat
the lesson. In this
sense, regarding
reparation, the Encoder
teaches that it:
“[...] consists in doing
good to those to whom
evil had been done. Whoever
does not correct his
mistakes in one
existence, due to
weakness or ill will,
will find himself in a
subsequent existence in
contact with the same
people who have
complaints against him,
and in conditions
voluntarily chosen, in order
to show them recognition
and make them as much
good as harm has been
done to them. Not
all faults entail direct
and effective harm. In
such cases, reparation
is carried out by doing
what should have been
done and was neglected:
fulfilling the despised
duties, the unfulfilled
missions. By doing good
in compensation for the
evil done, that is,
becoming humble if he
was proud, kind if he
was austere, charitable
if he was selfish,
benign if he was
perverse, laborious if
he was idle, useful if
he was useless, frugal
if he was intemperate,
in short, exchanging the
bad examples perpetrated
for good ones. And in
this way the Spirit
progresses, taking
advantage of its own
past.”
(Continued in the next
issue of this magazine.)