Orson Peter Carrara

Differences and Coexistence

The Spirits were clear in the Encoding about humans’ different abilities. When Allan Kardec questioned them about the differences of these skills, they answered “God created all Spirits equal, but each one of them has lived a longer or shorter life and therefore has more or less experience. The difference is in the degree of their experience and will, the so called free will: hence, some improve faster and this gives them various skills. The variety of skills is required, so that everyone can contribute for the purposes of Providence up to the limit of their physical and intellectual powers: what one does not do the other does. And so each one has a useful role (...)”.(1)

Well, the answer above gives rise to various developments. The statement itself regarding a longer or shorter existence, with more or less experience, which will determine the level of will and freedom, opens vast areas for material and moral action. Yes, because each of us can only act with aplomb in the area we know, in which we have experience and dominate due to our previous experience, not necessarily because of our past existence.

This also leads to think that we are not prevented from starting a new field of activity, and constancy and persistence will also lead us to new experiences which accumulate, equally useful throughout the evolutionary process.

In the same reply there is also the indication of a faster improvement (which generates new and constant skills in the various areas) or slower, depending on the effort expended and on how the will is used to reach that purpose.

What causes conflicts

But the Spirits are very clear. They teach that "the variety of skills is required." Each will bring their quota of contribution and their experience will be put into practice; each physical and intellectual power will contribute to the common good and everyone has a role to play, always useful in the general set, always in total agreement with the Divine Will, useful and wise.

The interesting part, however, is that not always the differences - which should contribute to a useful purpose, as well stated in The Book of Spirits (1) - can establish harmony links. Often individual differences cause conflicts, a natural consequence of the influence of man’s pride and selfishness.

Allan Kardec, however, with his lucid reasoning, makes two placements - among many others with the same purpose – which we partially copy:

a) "If a group wants to have order, peace and stability, a fraternal feeling should prevail among its members. Any group or society that is formed without a base of effective charity has no power; but those founded according to the true spirit of the Doctrine, will consider themselves as members of the same family; and since all of them cannot live under the same roof, they live in different places”.

This remark is addressed to Spiritist groups (answering the request of the Spiritists of Lyon, on the occasion of the New Year) and published on the Spiritist Magazine, of February, 1862 (2), but it applies to any other group. Where there is tolerance and benevolence there will be order, peace, and consistency.

Fraternity and its importance

In the magazine of December 1868(2), page 392, in the SpiritismTransitional Constitution (item IX - Conclusion), Kardec reaffirms:

b) "(...) but to want Spiritism to be organized everywhere; to expect all the Spiritists in the world to be subject to the same rules, with the same procedures, waiting for a light coming from a fixed point to which they shall all turn their eyes to, would be such an absurd utopia as to expect that one day all people on Earth will be governed by one and only nation, one chief, ruled by the same code of laws and with the same traditions. If there are general laws that may be common to all people, these laws will always be, in the details and in their application and form, appropriate to each one’s customs, characters, and climates. This will happen with an organized Spiritism. Spiritists from around the world will have common principles that will link them to the large family by the sacred bond of fraternity, but its application may vary according to each region without its fundamental oneness being broken, without forming dissident sects throwing stones and anathema, which would be against Spiritism (...) ".

Now this is the issue regarding the differences in relationships, in coexisting. There are differences, of course, even for the sake of understanding the several stages in which we also find ourselves, the followers of Spiritism. This, however, does not eliminate the fraternity that should reign for building peace in the world and in individual privacy.

Without fraternity, what do we see?

And by the way, as highlighted by the message Fundamentals of Social Order (3):

"(...) Pure fraternity is like a scent of Heaven, it is an emanation of the infinite, an atom of heavenly intelligence; based on moral institutions, and the only way to raise a social state that can survive and produce effects worthy of the great cause for which you are fighting. Therefore, be brothers, if you want the germ deposited among you to develop and become the tree you seek. Union is the sovereign force that descends upon the Earth; fraternity is the sympathy in the union. (...) To become strong you have to unite, and you have to be strong to be able to found an institution that only is based on the truth, so touching, and admirable, simple and so sublime. Divided forces are destroyed; when they are united, they become so much stronger. (...)".

And he completes wisely:

"(...) Without fraternity, what do you see? Selfishness, greed. Each one with their own purpose; each one tries to achieve his goals; each one tries to do it in his own way, and all human efforts are inevitably dragged into the abyss where they are swallowed, along the centuries. By uniting, there is no more than a single target, because there is only one single thought, a single desire, and a single heart. Unite, therefore, my friends; it is what the incessant voice of our world repeats; become united and you will reach your purpose more quickly (...)".

What one does not do, the other does

And what would be the purpose of those who follow Spiritism?

We hereby mention again the clear answer with which we began this work: The variety of skills is required in order for everyone to contribute for the purposes of Providence up to the limits of each one’s physical and intellectual powers: what one does not do, others do. And so, each one has a specific role (...)". (1)

Focus attention on the end of the sentence: what one does not do the other does. That's how each has a useful role (...).

Understanding this important clarification, the differences disappear and coexistence follows its true course: the one of fraternity. (The highlights are ours.)


Notes:

(1) Issue 804 of The Book of Spirits, 8th Edition IDE-Araras, SP, Oct/79, translated by Salvador Gentile.

(2) IDE-Araras-SP Edition, Nov/92, translated by Salvador Gentile.

(3) Message received at a spiritual meeting under the supervision of Allan Kardec, dictated by the Spirit of Leon de Muriane, and published in the November issue of the 1862 Spiritist Magazine (IDE-Araras-SP edition, translated by Salvador Gentile, pages 345 and 346).