3.4 Reproduction and the Continuation of Life
The Global Population
The reproduction of living beings is a law of nature; without reproduction, the corporeal world would die out.
If population continues to follow the constant progression now seen, no time will come when it becomes excessive for the earth. God has foreseen this and always keeps everything in balance; God does nothing useless. Since they see only one angle of nature’s picture, human beings are unable to perceive the harmony of the whole.
The Succession and Perfecting of the Races
At present, certain human races are clearly diminishing, and a time will come when they will have completely disappeared from the earth. But others will have taken their place, just as others will someday take yours.
The human beings of today are not a new creation, but the perfected descendants of primitive beings. They are the same spirits, returned to perfect themselves in new bodies, though they are still far from perfection. Thus, the present human race, which through its growth tends to spread across the whole earth and replace the races that are dying out, will also pass through its own period of decline and extinction. Other, more perfected races will replace it. These will have descended from the present race, just as the civilized human beings of today have descended from the brutes and primitives of earlier eras.
From a purely physical point of view, the origin of the human race is lost in the night of time. But since all belong to one great human family, whatever the primitive roots of each race may have been, they have since been able to mix with one another and produce new types.
From a physical standpoint, the distinctive and dominant characteristic of primitive races is the development of brute strength at the expense of intellectual prowess. The opposite is occurring today: human beings act more through intelligence than through physical strength, and yet they accomplish a hundred times more because they have placed the forces of nature at their service, which animals cannot do.
The improvement of animal and vegetable species through science is not contrary to natural law. Everything must be done to arrive at perfection. Human beings themselves are instruments that God uses as a means of accomplishing the divine ends. Since perfection is the goal toward which nature tends, to favor such perfection is to correspond to those ends.
In their efforts to improve various species, human beings are generally motivated by personal interest, with no goal other than increasing their own enjoyments. But it matters little that their merit may be lacking, provided progress is made. It is up to them to make their labor praiseworthy through their intention. Besides, by means of such labor they exercise and develop their intelligence, and it is in this respect that they derive the greatest benefit.
Obstacles to Reproduction
Human laws and customs that aim at, or result in, creating obstacles to reproduction are contrary to the law of nature, for everything that hinders the operations of nature is contrary to the overall law.
Nevertheless, there are species of living beings, both animal and vegetable, whose unrestrained reproduction would be harmful to other species, and of which human beings themselves would soon become victims. It is not wrong to hinder their reproduction. God has given human beings, above all other living beings, a power that they should use for good and not for abuse. They may regulate reproduction according to their needs, but they should not hinder it unnecessarily. The intelligent action of humankind is a counterbalance set by God among the forces of nature to reestablish equilibrium. This further distinguishes human beings from animals, because humans do so with full awareness. In their turn, animals also take part in this equilibrium. While the instinct of destruction has been given to animals as a means of self-preservation, it also causes them to hinder the excessive, and perhaps dangerous, overpopulation of the animal and vegetable species that nourish them.
Means intended to prevent reproduction for the sake of satisfying sensuality prove the predominance of the body over the soul and show how deeply human beings are immersed in matter.
Marriage and Celibacy
Marriage, the permanent union of two individuals, is not contrary to the law of nature. It represents progress in the evolution of humankind.
Abolishing marriage would have on human society the effect of a return to the life of animals.
The free and fortuitous union of the sexes belongs to the state of nature. Marriage is one of the primary acts of progress in human society because it establishes fraternal solidarity and is found among all cultures, though under very diverse forms.
Abolishing marriage would therefore be a return to humankind’s infancy and would place human beings even below some animals that demonstrate examples of stable unions.
The absolute indissolubility of marriage does not belong to the law of nature; it is only a human law, and one quite contrary to the law of nature. Human beings may modify their laws; only the laws of nature are immutable.
Voluntary celibacy is not a state of perfection that is meritorious in God’s sight, and those who live that way out of selfishness displease God and mislead others.
Celibacy as a sacrifice for those who desire to devote themselves entirely to serving humankind is very different. Every personal sacrifice is meritorious when made for the good; the greater the sacrifice, the greater the merit.
God cannot be self-contradictory or regard as evil what has been divinely made. Thus, God cannot see any merit in the violation of the divine law. Even though celibacy in itself is not a meritorious state, it becomes such when it constitutes a sacrifice made on behalf of humankind through the renunciation of the joys of family life. Every personal sacrifice undertaken with a view to doing good, and without selfish ulterior motive, elevates the individual above his or her material condition.
Polygamy
The approximate numerical equality between the sexes is an indication of the proportion in which they ought to be united, for everything in nature has a purpose.
Of polygamy and monogamy, monogamy is more in harmony with the law of nature. Polygamy is a human law, and abolishing it is a mark of social progress. In God’s view, marriage should be based on the love of the individuals who join hands. In polygamy there is no true love; there is nothing more than sensuality.
If polygamy were in accord with the law of nature, it would be universal, which would be materially impossible because of the numerical equality of the sexes. Polygamy must be regarded as an institution, or a particular legislation, appropriate to certain customs, but one that social perfection will gradually make disappear.