3.12 Moral Growth
Virtues and Vices
All virtues are meritorious because they are signs of progress on the path of the good. There is virtue whenever there is voluntary resistance to the allure of evil tendencies. However, the highest virtue consists in sacrificing one’s own interests for the good of one’s neighbor, without ulterior motive. The greatest merit is that which is founded on the most disinterested charity.
Those who do good through a spontaneous impulse, without having to struggle against any contrary sentiment, have already made progress. They struggled and triumphed in the past. That is why good sentiments cost them no effort and their actions seem easy; doing good has become a habit for them. They should be honored like veteran warriors who have earned their rank.
Since you are still far from perfection, such examples surprise you by contrast, and you admire them all the more because they are rare. However, on worlds more advanced than yours, what is exceptional among you has become the rule. The sentiment of the good is spontaneous everywhere on those worlds because they are inhabited only by good spirits, and a single bad intention would be a monstrous exception. That is why people are happy there. The same will occur on the earth when humanity transforms itself and understands and practices charity in its true meaning.
Besides the defects and vices about which no one can be mistaken, the clearest sign of imperfection is selfishness. Moral qualities often do not stand up when put to the test, like gilded copper that cannot withstand the touchstone. Individuals may possess real qualities that make them appear moral in the eyes of the world. Yet while such qualities do indicate progress, they do not always endure certain trials, and sometimes a single touch of selfishness is enough to unmask a person’s real character. True selflessness is in fact so rare on earth that it is admired as a remarkable phenomenon whenever it appears.
Attachment to material things is a clear indication of impurity, because the more people are attached to the things of this world, the less they understand their true destiny. Through selflessness, however, they show that they see the future from a more elevated point of view.
There are selfless individuals who nonetheless lack discernment and waste their possessions without real benefit because they do not know how to use them wisely. They have merit for their selflessness, but not for the potential good they could have done. If selflessness is a virtue, thoughtless squandering is always, at the very least, a lack of judgment. Fortune is not given to some to be cast to the wind any more than it is given to others to be locked away. It is a deposit for which they will have to render account. They will have to answer for all the good they could have done but did not do, and for all the tears they could have dried with the money they gave to those who were not actually in need.
Those who do good in the hope that it may be taken into account in the next life, so that their situation there may be better, must still do good out of charity, that is, selflessly.
Nevertheless, everyone naturally desires to progress and to emerge from the painful condition of this life. The Spirits teach you to do good with that purpose in mind. It is certainly not wrong to think that by practicing the good you may hope for a better situation. However, those who do good without ulterior motive, solely for the joy of pleasing God and helping their suffering neighbor, have already reached a certain degree of advancement. This will enable them to attain happiness more quickly than those who do good through calculation rather than through the natural impulse of the heart. (See no. 894)
A distinction should be made between the good that can be done for one’s neighbor and the care devoted to correcting one’s own defects. By “doing good” is here meant being charitable. Those who calculate what each of their good actions may earn them in the other life or in earthly life proceed selfishly. But there is no selfishness in improving oneself in the hope of drawing nearer to God, because that is the goal for all.
Since corporeal life is only an ephemeral sojourn in this world, and since future life should be the principal concern, is it worthwhile to acquire scientific knowledge concerned only with material things and earthly needs? Yes. First, such knowledge enables you to help your brothers and sisters. Next, your spirit will evolve more quickly if it has progressed intellectually. In the interval between incarnations, you will learn in one hour what would require years on earth. No knowledge is useless; all of it contributes in some degree to advancement, because the perfected spirit must know everything. Since progress must be made in every sense, all acquired ideas help the development of the spirit.
Of two wealthy individuals, one born in opulence and never having known need, and the other owing a fortune to his own labor, though both use their wealth exclusively for personal satisfaction, the more culpable is the one who has known hardship. He knows what it means to suffer and yet does not relieve suffering in others; as often happens, he no longer remembers his own hardships.
Those who continue to accumulate assets without benefiting anyone have no valid excuse in saying that they are doing so in order to leave them to their heirs. It attests to bad principles.
Of two misers, the first depriving himself of necessities and dying in want atop his treasure, and the second being stingy only toward others while extravagant toward himself, recoiling before the smallest sacrifice to render a service or do something useful, while finding nothing better than satisfying his own tastes and passions, the guiltier one—and the one who will have the worse place in the spirit world—is the one who spends. He is more selfish than the miser. The miser has already received part of his punishment.
It is not wrong to desire wealth for the sake of doing good. Such a sentiment is certainly laudable if it is pure. But this desire is not always disinterested enough; it may conceal a personal ulterior motive. The first person to whom one wishes to do good is often oneself.
It is wrong to study the defects of others if the purpose is to criticize and expose them, because that reveals a lack of charity. If it is done with the intention of applying the lesson to oneself in order to avoid the same defects, it may be useful. One must not forget, however, that tolerance for the defects of others is one of the virtues included in charity. Before criticizing people’s imperfections, think whether others may say the same about you. Therefore, strive to possess qualities opposite to the defects you criticize in others. This is a means of perfecting yourself. If you criticize others for avarice, be generous; for harshness, be kind; for pettiness, be expansive in all your actions. In a word, act in such a way that these words of Jesus may not apply to you: “You see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not see the beam in your own.”
Whether it is wrong for a person to probe the ills of society and expose them depends on the motive. If a writer seeks only to create scandal, that person acts for personal pleasure, publishing material that generally sets a bad example rather than a good one. The spirit may enjoy it, but it may also be punished for the pleasure it takes in revealing evil.
In such cases, there is no need to judge a writer’s purity of intention or sincerity. If the message is good, benefit from it; if it is bad, it becomes a matter for the writer’s own conscience. Moreover, if writers wish to prove their sincerity, it is for them to support their principles by setting their own example.
Some authors have published works that are beautiful and morally uplifting, and that help the progress of humankind, but which they themselves do not apply. As spirits, the good they have done through their works will not be fully taken into account, for morality without action is like seed without sowing. What use is seed if you do not make it grow in order to feed you? Such persons are more culpable because they possessed the intelligence to understand. Having failed to practice the maxims they offered to others, they do not reap the fruit.
It is not reprehensible for those who do good to be conscious of it and to acknowledge it to themselves. Since they can be aware of the evil they do, they must also be aware of the good in order to know whether they act rightly or wrongly. It is by weighing all their actions on the scales of God’s law, especially on those of the law of justice, love, and charity, that they can know whether their actions are good or bad, and thus approve or disapprove of them. Therefore, they are not at fault for recognizing that they have triumphed over their evil tendencies and for being satisfied at having done so, provided they do not become vain, for that would be to fall into another fault. (See no. 919)
The Passions
Since the principle of the passions originates in nature, they are not evil in themselves. Passion is the result of excess brought about by the will, though the principle itself was given to human beings for their good. The passions can lead them to do great things. It is the abuse of them that makes them evil.
The point at which the passions cease to be good is recognized when a passion becomes harmful—when one ceases to govern it and when it results in injury to oneself or others. The passions are like a horse that is useful when controlled but dangerous when it takes control.
The passions are levers that increase human powers tenfold and help fulfill the designs of Providence. However, if instead of directing their passions people allow themselves to be directed by them, they fall into excess, and the very power that could have been used for good falls upon them and crushes them.
All the passions have their principle in a natural sentiment or need. Therefore, the principle of the passions is not evil, because it rests on one of the providential conditions of existence. Passion properly speaking is the exaggeration of a need or sentiment; it is in the excess and not in the cause. Such excess becomes evil when it results in some kind of evil.
Every passion that draws us nearer to the animal nature takes us farther from the spiritual nature. Every sentiment that lifts us above the animal nature announces the predominance of spirit over matter and draws us nearer to perfection.
Human beings could always overcome their evil tendencies through their own efforts, sometimes with very little effort; what they lack is willpower. How few make such an effort, however.
Human beings can find effective aid in spirits to help them overcome their passions. If they sincerely pray to God and to their guardian angel, good spirits will certainly come to their aid, for that is their mission.
There are no passions so strong and irresistible that the will is powerless to overcome them. There are many who say, “I want to,” but whose will is only on their lips. They want, yet they are quite content not to be able to. When they believe they cannot overcome their passions, it is because their spirit takes pleasure in them as a result of its own impurity. Those who strive to restrain their passions understand their own spiritual nature, and overcoming them is a triumph of spirit over matter.
The most effective means of fighting the predominance of corporeal nature is the practice of self-denial.
Selfishness
Of all the vices, selfishness may be regarded as the root. All evil derives from it. Study all the vices and it will be seen that selfishness lies at the bottom of them all. However much one may struggle against them, one will never uproot them as long as their cause remains. Let all efforts tend toward that end, because selfishness is the true scourge of society. Those who wish to approach moral perfection in this life must uproot from their hearts every selfish sentiment, for selfishness is incompatible with justice, love, and charity; it neutralizes every other quality.
Since selfishness is based on personal interest, it seems difficult to uproot it entirely from the human heart. Human beings will be able to do so as they become enlightened regarding spiritual things and attach less value to material things. It is also necessary to reform the human institutions that sustain and excite the passions. This depends on education.
Selfishness is the greatest evil, but it is connected to the impure nature of the spirits incarnated on the earth, and not to the human species in itself. By purifying themselves through successive incarnations, spirits rid themselves of selfishness just as they rid themselves of other impurities. On the earth there are persons who are free from selfishness and who practice charity. They exist in greater numbers than might be thought, but few are known because virtue does not seek to display itself publicly. If there is one, why would there not be ten? If there are ten, why would there not be a thousand, and so on?
Far from decreasing, selfishness increases with civilization, which seems to stimulate and sustain it. The greater the evil, the more heinous it becomes. It has been necessary for selfishness to produce much evil in order to make the need to uproot it understood. When human beings have freed themselves from the selfishness that dominates them, they will live as brothers and sisters. They will not do evil to one another and will help one another through the fraternal sentiment of solidarity. The strong will then be the support, not the oppressor, of the weak, and no one will lack what is necessary because all will practice the law of justice. This is the kingdom of the good that the Spirits are charged with preparing.
The means of destroying selfishness is difficult because, of all human imperfections, it is the hardest to uproot, since it is connected to the influence of matter, from which human beings, still so close to their origin, cannot free themselves. Everything concurs to sustain that influence: laws, social organization, and education. Selfishness will be weakened with the predominance of moral life over material life, and especially through the understanding that Spiritism gives of the true future state, no longer distorted by allegorical fictions. When Spiritism is well understood and identified with customs and beliefs, it will transform habits, practices, and social relations. Selfishness is founded on the importance given to personality. Properly understood, Spiritism enables one to see things from such an elevated point of view that the sense of personality somehow disappears before the immensity of the Doctrine. By destroying this self-importance and showing its true nature, Spiritism necessarily combats selfishness.
It is usually the shock that people experience from the selfishness of others that makes them selfish in return, because they feel the need to defend themselves. Seeing that others think only of themselves and not of them, they in turn are led to be more concerned with themselves than with others. Let the principle of charity and fraternity be the basis of social institutions and of legal relations between nations and individuals, and all will think less of themselves when they see that others do the same. Thus they will undergo the moralizing influence of example and contact. In light of the present overflow of selfishness, true virtue is needed to sacrifice one’s own personality for the sake of others, who generally do not recognize it. It is to those, above all, who possess this virtue, that the kingdom of heaven is opened. For them especially is reserved the bliss of the elect, because on the day of judgment those who have thought only of themselves will be cast aside and will suffer abandonment.
Fénelon
Laudable efforts have doubtless been made to help humankind advance. Good sentiments are encouraged, stimulated, and honored today more than at any other time, and yet the devouring worm of selfishness continues to be the scourge of society. It is a true evil spread throughout the world, of which everyone is more or less a victim. Therefore, it must be fought as one would fight an epidemic. To do this, one must proceed as physicians do and go back to the cause. In every level of social organization—from the family to nations, from the hovel to the palace—all the causes and all the visible or hidden influences that excite, maintain, and develop the sentiment of selfishness must be sought out. Once the causes are known, the remedy will present itself. It will then only be necessary to combat them, if not completely, then at least in part, and little by little the poison will be drawn out. The cure may take a long time because the causes are numerous, but it is not impossible. Moreover, this point cannot be reached unless the evil is attacked at its roots, that is, through education. Not the education that aims merely to instruct, but the education that also aims to form moral individuals. When rightly understood, education will be the key to moral progress. When the art of guiding character is understood as well as the art of cultivating intelligence, character will be able to be corrected just as young plants are straightened. However, this art requires much tact, much experience, and profound observation. It is a serious error to believe that knowledge alone is enough to apply it well. Whoever has observed the children of the wealthy as well as of the poor from birth, noticing all the harmful influences that act on them as a result of the weakness, ignorance, and negligence of those who guide them, and also seeing how often the means employed to moralize them fail, will not be surprised to find so much disorder in the world. Let as much effort be made toward morality as toward intelligence, and it will be seen that although there are obstinate natures, there are also, in greater number than might be thought, those who require only good cultivation in order to yield good fruit.
People want to be happy, and this sentiment is in their very nature. That is why they work without ceasing to improve their situation on earth and to seek out the causes of their ills in order to cure them. When they rightly understand that selfishness is one of those causes; that it engenders pride, ambition, greed, envy, hatred, and jealousy, of which they are at every moment the victim; that it brings trouble into all social relations, provokes dissension, destroys trust, and obliges them constantly to remain on the defensive toward their neighbor; that it turns friend into foe; then they will also understand that this vice is incompatible with their own happiness. It is likewise incompatible with their own safety. Thus, the more they suffer from it, the more they will feel the need to fight it as they would a plague, harmful animals, and every other scourge. They will be compelled to do so out of their own self-interest.
Selfishness is the source of all vices, just as charity is the source of all virtues. To destroy the former and develop the latter should be the aim of everyone’s efforts if they wish to ensure happiness in this world as well as in the future.
The Characteristics of a Moral Person
The spirit proves its progress when all the actions of its corporeal life consist in practicing the law of God, and when it understands the life of the spirit beforehand.
Truly moral individuals practice the law of justice, love, and charity in its purest fullness. When they examine their conscience concerning their actions, they ask whether they have violated that law, whether they have committed any evil, whether they have done all the good that was in their power to do, whether no one has a complaint against them, and lastly, whether they have done to others what they would want others to do to them.
Those who possess the sentiment of charity and love for their neighbor do good for its own sake, without hope of reward, and they sacrifice self-interest for the sake of justice.
If God has given them power and wealth, they regard these as a deposit that must be used for good. But this does not make them vain, because they know that God, who gave them power and wealth, can also take them away.
If the social order has placed persons under their care, they treat them with kindness and benevolence because all are equal before God. They use their authority to build others up morally, not to crush them under pride.
They are tolerant of the weaknesses of others, for they know that they themselves need tolerance, and they remember the words of Christ: “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.”
They are not vindictive. Following Jesus’ example, they forgive offenses and remember only benefits, because they know that they will be forgiven as they have forgiven.
Finally, they respect in others all the rights that the laws of nature have granted them, just as they desire their own rights to be respected.
Self-Knowledge
The most effective means of improving ourselves in this life and of resisting the pull of evil is contained in the maxim, “Know thyself.” We understand all the wisdom of that maxim, but the difficulty lies precisely in knowing ourselves.
One may do what St. Augustine did while living on the earth. At the end of each day he examined his conscience, reviewed what he had done, and asked himself whether he had failed to fulfill some duty and whether anyone might have had reason to complain of him. It was thus that he came to know himself and to see what in him needed reform. Those who each night recall all their actions during the day, and ask themselves what good or evil they have done, praying to God and to their guardian angel for enlightenment, will acquire great strength for self-improvement, because God will assist them. Therefore, one should ask what one has done and with what aim one acted in a given circumstance; whether one has done anything that one would blame in others; and whether one has done anything that one would not dare confess. One should also ask: if it pleased God to call me at this moment into the world of spirits, where nothing is hidden, would I shrink before anyone’s gaze? One should examine what one may have done against God, then against one’s neighbor, and lastly against oneself. The answers will either bring repose to the conscience or indicate a fault that must be corrected.
Self-knowledge is therefore the key to individual improvement. But one may ask: how are we to judge ourselves? Are we not under the illusion of vanity, which exalts our faults and makes them excusable? Misers think they are merely prudent and thrifty, while proud individuals think they are simply dignified. All this is true, but there is a means of control that cannot deceive. When one is uncertain about the quality of any action, one should ask how one would judge it if it had been done by someone else. If one would blame it in another, it cannot be more legitimate in oneself, for God does not use two measures of justice. One should also seek to know what others think and not neglect the opinion of one’s enemies, because they have no interest in disguising the truth. Frequently, God places them beside us as a mirror in order to warn us more frankly than a friend would. Therefore, those who truly wish to improve themselves should examine their conscience in order to uproot from it their evil tendencies, just as they uproot weeds from a garden. They should balance their moral workday as business people balance profits and losses, and there will be more gains than losses. If one can say that one’s day has been good, one can sleep in peace and await awakening in the other life without fear.
One should therefore formulate clear and precise questions and not be afraid to multiply them. It would be wise to devote a few minutes to securing eternal bliss. We work every day to accumulate what we will need for rest in old age. This rest is the object of all our desires, the goal that enables us to endure temporary fatigue and deprivation. But what is the rest of a few days, troubled by the infirmities of the body, compared with what awaits the moral person? Is it not worth a little effort? Many will say that the present is certain and the future uncertain. Yet that is precisely the thought the Spirits have been charged with tearing down in our minds, for they desire to enable us to understand that future in such a way that no doubt may remain in the soul. That is why they first called attention to themselves through the phenomena of nature, which appealed to the senses, and afterward gave instructions that each person has the duty to spread. It was with this purpose in mind that they dictated The Spirits’ Book.
St. Augustine
Many of the faults we commit pass unnoticed by us. In fact, following the counsel of St. Augustine, if we questioned our conscience more frequently, we would see how often we fail without noticing it, simply because we have not examined the nature and motive of our actions. This method of self-examination is more precise than relying on a maxim that we do not usually apply to ourselves. It requires categorical yes-or-no answers that leave no room for evasion. These are personal assertions, and from the sum of the answers we can calculate the sum of the good and the evil that exists within us.