Always with
great respect for God,
the Supreme Creator and
our Father, I focus on
the origins and
consequences of multiple
events in human life, in
its two substantial
stages: the first, the
spiritual, immortal; the
second, material, with
earthly existences
(reincarnations).
United, the two stages
bring together the moral
evolutionary level of
each Spirit.
Weaving some reflections
on such a lofty topic,
never judging anyone, I
highlight some gains and
losses in those stages
(spiritual and
material). To this end,
I position myself as a
humble apprentice,
trying to understand my
possible understanding,
initially, of the
immortality of the
Spirit and its stages,
sometimes on the
spiritual plane,
sometimes enveloped in a
physical organism.
Divine Law, or Natural
Law, means that every
human action, physical
or unrealized, that is,
only fixed in the mind
and/or thought,
inexorably attracts
responsibility to the
agent for what it may
generate as a result.
This is the lesson of
Jesus when he warned us
about sin in thought
(Mark, 8:38), using
adultery generically,
not in the exclusive
sense (marital
infidelity), but in a
more general sense, such
as failing to do duty,
distorting justice, etc.
Thus, in human terms,
“determinism” and
“fatality” are those
words that, without
being synonymous, are
difficult to understand,
as dictionaries — which
should separate them —
created a tenuous border
between their meanings,
almost making them
similar.
Determinism:
Philosophically, it
understands (...) “the
relationship between
phenomena by which they
are linked in such a
rigorous way that, at a
given moment, every
phenomenon is completely
conditioned by those
that precede and
accompany it and
conditions with the same
rigor the that will
occur next.”
(New Basic Dictionary of
the Portuguese Language,
p. 218 – FOLHA/AURÉLIO,
1994-1995, p.218. Ed.
Nova Fronteira, S.
Paulo/SP).
Generally speaking,
determinism is the
conception that all
human events (including
mental ones) are
determined by causes. In
other words: every event
is explained by
determination, that is,
by causal relationships
(cause and effect
relationship).
Thus, in terms of
determinism there is no
chance: there is a chain
of cause-effect between
two or more phenomena,
that is, natural
phenomena and human
facts are caused by
their antecedents, which
leads many to declare
that “man is fruit of
the environment.”
Human determinisms can
be countless, just as
human actions are
countless, so I briefly
cite just a few
examples:
a. Natural
determinism: expressions
of the physical world:
being born / breathing /
eating / resting /
dying;
b. Biological
determinism: idea that
all behavior, beliefs,
and desires are fixed by
our genetic endowment
and constitution. They
cannot be changed.
c. Environmental
determinism (climatic or
geographic): is the view
that the physical
environment determines
culture, rather than
social conditions.
d. Social
determinism: the social
environment in which an
individual is born
determines his life and
actions, but it is not
always possible to
affirm the occurrence of
safe causal
relationships;
e. Scientific
determinism: science,
when determining the way
of life of individuals,
only recognizes what can
be taken as truth and
become the basis for
choices and actions;
f. Theological
determinism: belief that
there is a God who
determines everything
that humans will do,
either by knowing their
actions in advance or
through some
omniscience.
Fatality:
According to Philosophy,
fatality is “(...)
attitude or doctrine
that admits that the
course of human life is
previously fixed, with
the will, or
intelligence, being
powerless to direct or
alter it”. (New Basic
Dictionary of the
Portuguese Language –
cited above, p.291).
Unexpected,
unpredictable events
with serious
consequences
characterize fatalities.
When an unpredictable
event occurs and there
is no explanation, no
answer, it is often said
that it was a “fatal
fate”. Below are some
examples of fatalities:
a. Lightning
strikes people, causing
deaths and/or risk of
death;
b. An
accident, no fault of
the driver, because the
victim advanced
carelessly, being hit by
the vehicle that was
traveling at legal
speed;
c. Unexpected
geological phenomena,
with victims:
earthquakes, tsunamis,
volcanic eruptions,
spontaneous fires;
flagella; calamities;
catastrophes and others.
There is also the
so-called “fatalism”, a
commonly highlighted
doctrine, comprising
several inexorable
situations: inevitable
destiny; unavoidable
disastrous consequence
of some event;
deplorable coincidence;
unfortunate chance;
adversity, misfortune,
and other adjectives.
It appears that the
followers of fatalism
passively abandon
themselves to events:
they archive
intelligence and free
will, two tools offered
by God for use in any
and all situations: they
do not react / they do
not create / they decide
nothing / they resolve
nothing — in the first
place and ultimately,
they accommodate
themselves. (losses
arise: time, the main
one...).
Spiritist view of
determinism and fatality
Spiritism always starts
from the assumption that
help from the Greater
Plane is never absent
for all those who,
sincerely, in anguish or
pain, pray and ask for
support from the Father
of Love. This stance,
obviously, is not
exclusive to spiritists,
but rather to people
with common sense and
who have faith in God
and all of his heavenly
emissaries. In fact,
even those who suffer —
without prayers, without
revolt, but with
resignation — receive
the balm of Divine
Justice.
This is how Life
contemplates everyone,
with gains and support,
never ignoring our
adversities.
Determinism (according
to some spiritual
authors)
1. Spirit Emmanuel, in O
Consolador, psychography
by Francisco Cândido
Xavier, 2nd Part, 6th
Ed., 1976, FEB, RJ/RJ:
a. Question
121: The environment in
which the soul was
reborn often constitutes
the expiatory test (we
see here determinism as
expiation);
b. Question
132: Determinism and
free will coexist in
life, intertwining on
the road of destinies,
for the elevation and
redemption of men;
c. Question
133: Bodily expression
prevails over human
destinies (...), but in
the intimate, zone of
pure spiritual
influence, man is free
in the school of his
future path;
d. Question
134: Aggravate or
alleviate your
determinism – Divine
determination is a
sacred universal law of
good and happiness. The
Spirit that works
responsibly with other
beings and educates
itself gains natural
rights and characterizes
the good cooperator of
the Supreme Father, who
is God; (here, gains
arise, through the
practice of good);
e. Question
135: Divine determinism
is constituted by a
single law, which is
that of love for the
universal community.
Failure to comply with
this law results in
rescues.
2. Spirit Alexandre, in
“Missionaries of Light”,
chap. 13, p. 227, 21st
Ed., 1988, FEB,
Brasília/DF:
- Reincarnation
programs: map of useful
tests, organized in
advance, as an advance
decision on the physical
conditions and places
most suitable for the
evolution of the spirit
to be reincarnated –
(test or atonement).
3. Unknown author:
regarding this article,
I respectfully note the
phrase inscribed on
Allan Kardec's dolmen
(tomb), in the
Père-Lachaise Cemetery,
in Paris: “Naître,
mourir, renaître encore
et progresser sans cease
telle est la loi” (“To
be born, to die, to be
reborn again and to
progress incessantly,
such is the law”).
(“Allan Kardec”, Zêus
Wantuil and Francisco
Thiesen, volume III,
2ndEd., p.140, 1978,
FEB, Brasília/DF).
Fatality (also
according to spiritual
authors)
1) Without a doubt,
there are natural and
immutable laws that
cannot be abrogated at
the whim of each person;
but, from believing that
all circumstances of
life are subject to
fatality, it goes a long
way. If this were so,
man would be nothing
more than a passive
instrument, without free
will and without
initiative. (...) There
are actions and certain
requests from the
individual that God
grants, without breaking
the harmony of universal
laws. (Grifei) - (Allan
Kardec, in The Gospel
According to Spiritism,
chapter XXVII, item 6).
This is how man himself
creates present and
future circumstances
that change his life,
excluding blind, “fatal”
fate.
2) Fatality is an
intelligently corrective
effect of a cause of
actions carried out by
man, on Earth or in the
afterlife. (Espírito
Rosália, in “Memoirs Of
A Suicide”, 2ªP., chap.
V, p.318, 5ªEd., 1975,
Rio).
3) There are
reincarnations that
function as drastic
(...) God created free
will, we created
fatality” - (Mother
Spirit of André Luiz, in
“Our Home”, chapter 46,
p.256, 48th Ed. , 1998,
FEB, Rio).
4) Rescues: The
significant amount of
our past debts to be
rescued is elaborated in
programs that signify a
kind of relative
fatality, where our
conduct can generate
benefit or disfavor -
(Clarêncio, in “Entre a
Terra e o Céu”, chapter
II, p.14, 13thEd., 1990,
FEB, Rio).
5) Fatality according to
The Spirits’ Book:
- Q. 853: Fatal, only
the moment of death;
- Q. 855: Dangers are
warnings (from the
Guardian Angel)
- Q. 859: Fatality truly
only exists in relation
to the moment in which
you must appear and
disappear from this
world
(As for spiritual
predictions —
premonitory dreams, for
example —, they are also
warnings and not
certainty of fatal
events)
- Q. 261 and 865: Luck
in gambling: winning as
a man and losing as a
Spirit.
This is a kind of joy
previously chosen
(test), being granted to
him as a temptation
(without chance...),
that is, a test of his
pride and cupidity.
Conclusion
Divine Laws hover over
all of us, based on the
Law of Love, sacred and
unique! Dealing with the
evils of this life,
without previous actions
justifying them, many
philosophers disbelieved
or still disbelieve in
Divine Justice, since
according to what is
preached by most
religions, God is just —
invariably just —, so
much so that It is
popularly said that:
“God never puts a cross
on the wrong shoulder”.
Such philosophers
support their disbelief
at the sight of so many
earthly misfortunes:
individual or collective
“fatalities”, like
inevitable accidents,
loss of loved ones,
reverses of fortune,
victimization resulting
from natural scourges,
birth illnesses,
condemnation of innocent
people, “stray bullets”
etc.
According to Spiritism,
if a sad event reaches
someone, without any
predictability or cause,
considering the
perfectibility of Divine
Justice, the origin of
this event can only be
in one place: in the
past, in another earthly
existence, that is, in
another reincarnation of
that unfortunate person.
Kardec recorded about
this logical thought:
However, by virtue of
the axiom according to
which every effect has a
cause, such miseries are
effects that must have a
cause and, as long as a
just God is admitted,
this cause must also be
just. Now, since the
effect always precedes
the cause, if the cause
is not present in the
current life, it must be
prior to that life, that
is, it must be in a
previous existence. In
The Gospel According to
Spiritism, chap. V, item
6.
The blessing of
successive lives
(reincarnation)
illuminates any
philosophical doubts
about these
“fatalities”, inferring
that all these events
are consequences
(effects), whose
antecedents (causes) are
in the past. Otherwise,
in fact, perfect Divine
Justice would not be
admitted!
There is no greater
philosophical evidence
of successive lives!
It remains as a
reflection, unshakable,
unquestionable and
definitive faith and
truth, that “in the sea
of life no living being
is a boat without
direction or compass”,
so the notable events of
their existence are
indeed, under
“administration of the
Greater Plane”, wise and
just.
|