We continue today the methodical study of “Heaven and Hell, or Divine Justice According to Spiritism” by Allan Kardec. The first edition was published in August 1, 1865. This work is part of the Kardecian Pentateuch. The answers to the questions suggested for discussion are at the end of the text below.
Questions for discussion
A. According to the Doctrine, is there a place called Heaven?
B. How do the Spirits achieve progress and happiness?
C. Why is incarnation required for the Spirits' progress?
D. Where does reincarnation take place?
Reading text
22. The beings of the corporeal world are connected to the Earth or to some similar globe. The spiritual world is everywhere, around us and in space, and has no limits. Due to the fluidic nature of their body envelope - the perisprit - the beings that compose that world, instead of transporting themselves laboriously on the ground, they transpose the distances at the speed of thought. (Part First, Chapter III, item 5.)
23. If a man lived alone, he would have neither vices nor virtues. Keeping away from evil by isolation, he would also annul the possibility of goodness. (Part First, Chapter III, item 8.)
24. A single corporeal existence is clearly insufficient for the Spirit to acquire all the goodness he lacks and rid himself of the remaining evil. How could a savage, for example, in a single incarnation level himself moral and intellectually to the most advanced European? It is physically impossible. Must he, then, remain forever in ignorance and barbarism, deprived of the pleasures that only the development of intellectual and moral faculties can offer him? (Part First, Chapter III, item 9.)
25. In between corporeal existences, the Spirit reenters the spiritual world, where he is happy or unhappy, according to the good or evil he did. The spiritual state is the normal state of the Spirit - and should be the final one - since the spiritual body does not die. The state of incarnation is one of transition and of passage. (Part First, Chapter III, item 10.)
26. It is mainly in the spiritual state, that the Spirit reaps the fruits of the progress made through his incarnation. It is also in this state that he prepares for new struggles and decides what to put into practice when he returns. (Part First, Chapter III, item 10.)
27. The Spirit also progresses in erraticity (spiritual world), acquiring special knowledge that he could not get on Earth and changing the way he thinks. The corporeal, and spiritual condition, are the source of two kinds of progress, mutual solidarity. This is why the Spirit passes alternatively by these two types of existence. (Part First, Chapter III, item 10.)
28. Life in the higher worlds is already a reward, since there we will be exempt from earthly ills and vicissitudes. Our bodies become less material, and are almost fluidic. They are not any longer subject to diseases and illnesses, nor have they the same needs. (Part First, Chapter III, item 11.)
29. True fraternity reigns in those worlds, because there is no selfishness. True equality reigns in them, because there is no pride, and true freedom, because there are no disorders to be repressed, there are no ambitious beings seeking to oppress the weak. Compared to Earth, these worlds are real paradises, and are temporary resting places of the Spirits leading them to the true definite life of the soul. (Part First, Chapter III, item 11.)
30. The happiness of the blessed Spirits is not made of contemplative idleness, which would be a tedious and eternal uselessness. Instead, the spiritual life in all its degrees is of constant activity, activity that is free from fatigue. (Part First, Chapter III, item 12.)
31. The Spirits' duties are according to each one's progress, their enlightenment, capabilities, experience, and the confidence the Lord has in them. They do not count with favors or privileges except those awarded by merit. There everything is measured and weighed with strict justice. (Part First, Chapter III, item 13.)
32. Besides the great missions confided to the Higher Spirits, there are others of every degree of importance, which are entrusted to Spirits of corresponding degrees of advancement. Therefore, every Spirit, even those who are incarnate, may be said to have his own - that it to say certain duties to perform for the benefit of his fellows - from the father of a family, which is responsible for the progress of the child, to the man of genius who endows society with new elements of progress. (Part First, Chapter III, item 14.)
33. It is in these secondary missions that weakness, unfaithfulness and withdrawals occur delaying the advancement of the individual who is guilty of them, but do not affect the general course of events. (Part First, Chapter III, item 14.)
34. The Spirits' happiness depends on their qualities and not on any physical surroundings. It exists where there are Spirits who are capable of being happy. However, happiness is not personal. If we were the only owners of happiness, maintaining it only in ourselves, unable to share it with others, it would be selfish and incomplete. The happy Spirits are attracted by similarity of tastes and feelings. They form large groups or homogeneous families, in which each one radiates his qualities and receives the peaceful and beneficial emanations of all the other individuals of the group. (Part First, Chapter III, items 15 and 16.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. According to the Doctrine, is there a place called Heaven?
No. The happiness of each Spirit is in direct proportion to the amount of progress made by him; so that of two spirits, one may be more or less happy than the other, simply as a consequence of his greater or less degree of moral and intellectual advancement, and this, without their being in two different places. They may be together, while one is in the darkness, and the other is in the midst of light, just as a blind man and one who sees hold hands. The former will be unconscious of the light seen by the latter.
Since the happiness of the Spirits is inherent in their qualities, they find happiness wherever they may be, on the surface of the Earth, in the midst of incarnates, or in Space.
The spiritual world has splendors everywhere, harmonies and sensations that the Lower Spirits, subjected to the influence of matter, have not glimpsed and are only accessible to purified Spirits. Thus, it is easy to understand that the sky is everywhere and it draws no boundary limits. The advanced worlds are the last stations of one's path, which virtues open, and vices close. (Heaven and Hell, Part First, Chapter III, items 6 and 18.)
B. How do the Spirits achieve progress and happiness?
The Spirits' progress is the result of their own work, but since they are free, they work more or less harder for their development. They are more or less neglectful, according to their will, accelerating or slowing their progress and, therefore, their own happiness.
While some move quickly, others are slow, such as cowards in the lower ranks. They are therefore the authors of their own situation, happy or unhappy, according to Christ's teaching: To each according to his works.
Supreme happiness is only shared by perfect Spirits, or by pure Spirits, who cannot reach it, until after they have progressed in intelligence and morality. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter III, items 6 and 7.)
C. Why is incarnation required for the Spirits' progress?
Incarnation is necessary for the Spirit's moral and intellectual progress: for the intellectual progress through the binding activity of work, and for the moral progress by means of the mutual need the Spirits have to relate with each other.
Social life is the touchstone that reveals the good or bad qualities of the Spirit. Kindness, malevolence, gentleness, violence, benevolence, charity, selfishness, greed, pride, humility, sincerity, honesty, loyalty, bad faith, hypocrisy, in a word, all that constitutes human goodness or human badness, find their motive, aim, or stimulus, in the relation of each man with his fellows. For the man who lived insulated there would be no vices or virtues.
Incarnation is, however, inherent to the condition of inferiority of the Spirit. It is no longer necessary, when inferiority is overcome, and there is continued progress in the spiritual state, or in the corporeal existences in more advanced worlds, that do not maintain earthly materialization. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter III, items 8 and 10).
D. Where does reincarnation take place?
Reincarnation takes place on Earth or on other worlds. Among the worlds there are some more advanced where life is less painful than on Earth, physically and morally, but there only Spirits with a degree of perfection similar to those worlds are allowed. (Ibid, Part First, Chapter III, item 11.)
