Year 14 Number 69 2005 December 17th, 2005

"Unshakable faith is only that which can face reason face to face in every Humankind epoch." 
Allan Kardec

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand:

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying: Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  

And the King shall answer and say unto them:

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  

Jesus (Mathew 25:34-40)
 ° EDITORIAL
 
 ° ARTICLES
Learning from Joanna de Ângelis: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz – Erudition and Charity
 
 ° THE CODIFICATION
Truth
   
 ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS
Life and Destiny - INTRODUCTION
   
 ° SPIRIT MESSAGES
The Divine Law of Cause and Effect
   
 
 
 ° EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,
This past year has been one of tremendous upheavel in all areas affecting humanity (natural catastrophes, war, torture, starvation, and more). This planet is in a period of evolutionary transition. Spiritists understand that during these times of great and horrible suffering, is when we are all are greatly expiating and atoning for our indescretions in past lifetimes, individually and collectively (humanity as a whole).
 
Times of great suffering, from a Spiritist perspective, means we are putting forth extreme efforts in making great strides to progress further, so the time will arrive much sooner when this planet will be one of True Brotherhood.
 
Spiritists have strong faith in the knowledge that suffering has a just cause because all suffering is subject to the Divine Laws of cause and effect and is in accordance with our Creator's Supreme Love and Perfect Justice. So, never despair...for the darkness will eventually give forth to the Light of Love and Peace!
 
Love all those who inspire indifference, hate, and scorn...do no wrong, and do all the good you can, and you will be one of those who are working hard to transform this world to the next level in its spiritual and moral development, that of a world of regeneration, where the weary can find rest and peace, and there will no longer be hunger, hate, devastation, or war.

We pray to the Creator and our superior spirit guides to sustain us in our struggles in the New Year, to fulfill our duties towards the further spiritual and moral progression of this planet!

Much peace
 
The GEAE Editors

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 ° ARTICLES


Learning from Joanna de Ângelis:
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz – Erudition and Charity

Renato Costa - rsncosta@terra.com.br


Juana Ramírez de Asbaje was born on November 12, 1648 (see note) in the small town of San Miguel Nepantla, not far from Mexico City, as an illegitimate daughter of Captain Pedro Manuel de Asbaje and Isabel Ramirez de Santillana. Having Juana’s father abandoned her mother when she was still very young, she was brought up by Pedro Ramirez, her grandfather on her mother’s side, a learned and well-mannered man, in his farm located in Pandován.

She was precocious in her studies, having written her first verses when she was 5 years old. When she was 8 she learned Latin in 12 lessons and Portuguese on her own while she was living with her aunt in the Capital. Aged 16 she accepted an invitation by the Viceroy, Don Antonio Sebastián de Toledo, Marquis of Mancera and became lady in waiting to his wife Leonor at the Viceroy’s court in Mexico City. Juana’s biographers tell us that her many talents were causing so many jealous comments in the Court that the Viceroy ordered that she was submitted to a public examination by 40 wise men, an event where she succeeded in answering correctly to all the questions. She was 17 years old then.

Living in the Court, admired by some people and persecuted by others due to her beauty and wisdom, she was advised by her confessor to enter a Convent. In 1667 she entered the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Saint Joseph. The ascetic rigidity of the Convent, however, made her fall sick within a few months. She entered then the Convent of the Order of Saint Jerome, where she found the time that she needed to dedicate to literature and science.

At Saint Jerome Juana adopted the religious name of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Well established and surrounded by books and several instruments that she used in her studies, Sor Juana wrote poetry, essays and religious dramas and plays, besides composing Christmas songs and sacred music. She was visited in her Convent’s cell by several intellectual men from Spanish America and by others, who came from Spain, delighted with her beauty and profound understanding in all areas of knowledge.

Sor Juana’s writings and behavior made her represent an important milestone for Spanish America’s culture, a culture that was then dominated solely by men. Sor Juana was referred to in her time by the pseudonyms “The Tenth Muse” and “America’s Phoenix” and she is recognized nowadays as the first feminist in America.

When Sor Juana’s literary career was in its climax, Dom Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, Bishop of Puebla, asked her to write a critique on the Second “Sermão do Mandato”, a sermon which had been preached by the brave and erudite Jesuit priest Antonio Vieira – Portuguese with a long stay in Brazil - in the Royal Chapel of the Portuguese Court in the year 1655, about 40 years before. Sor Juana wrote the critique as brilliantly as ever pointing out some theological errors Vieira had written in his famous sermon. After receiving the critique, Dom Manuel published it without Sor Juana’s permission, not without first preceding it with a forward written by himself under the pseudonym of Sor Filotea de la Cruz and giving to Sor Juana’s work the provocative title of “Carta Atenagórica” (“Letter Worthy of Athena”). In the preface, while  “Sor Filotea” highly praised Sor Juana’s critique, “she” also subtlety criticized the comprehensiveness of Sor Juana’s studies, advising her to from that moment on dedicate herself entirely and only to religious matters.

If we want to better understand the disguise assumed by the Bishop, it is important for us to know that the Viceroy and his wife had returned to Spain thus leaving Sor Juana without powerful enough protectors in the court to deter the tenacious anti feminism of the Archbishop of Mexico, Don Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas. The Bishop of Puebla had to obey the instructions of his superior and attack Sor Juana. However as he was Sor Juana’s friend he decided to disguise as another nun so that, deprived of his title and masculine condition, he left Sor Juana at ease to make a reply defending her position.

At that time only the most powerful members of catholic clergy, who were all men as they still are today, were entitled to write on theological matters. So, the publication of the “Carta Atenagórica” promoted a great scandal in the religious community waking up far from Christian feelings in the heart of its powerful members

Sor Juana replied to “Sor Filotea” by means of a long autobiographic message where she supported in an eloquent and brilliant manner everyone’s need to study all branches of knowledge to better understand God and the Creation, arguing that such was a need for women as much as for men.

Not a long time after Sor Juana’s magnificent “Respuesta a Sor Filotea”, however, she put to sale the four thousand books of her library as well as her musical and scientific instruments, making thus a huge change in her life.

The reason for a so radical change remains obscure. After having researched several sources on Sor Juana’s life, I was left in doubt between two hypotheses. Was the “Respuesta” a way the erudite nun, author and scientist used to open her heart, after having resisted for a long time to the opposing attacks from jealous censors? Or was it the very fuse that ignited an explosive avalanche of criticism and pressure to which Sor Juana was unable to react, considering their source? No matter which the reason was the fact is that a sudden and surprising change took place and the focus of our dear Joanna in that memorable life was moved to charity.

After selling all her belongings Sor Juana used the money she obtained in charity, making donations to the poor and to the hungry people. Four years later when a plague hit the region she dedicated her body and soul to caring for the sick nuns in the Convent ending by getting sick herself and finally passing away.  She was discarnate on April 17 when she was aged 44.

*

The first thing that calls our attention is the thirst of knowledge shown by Juana since she was a child. She didn’t only read theological works but studied with dedication all the branches of knowledge, skillfully arguing in her Reply to “Sor Filotea” (Don Manuel, Bishop of Puebla) on the need of such studies.

Therefore, let us not limit our studies to spiritist works on religious or moral issues. If that page of Genesis or of one of works by André Luiz seem difficult for us to understand, won’t it be the case that we lack scientific knowledge? If we fail to find an answer to a problem we have in the Codification works, who knows if we simply lack the necessary knowledge on sociology, history or philosophy?

We have eternity to learn. Nevertheless, Sor Juana showed us with her example that we must act as if we had a single life to learn everything. On the evolution path we must behave in each life as if it were the only one we had to reach perfection in spite of knowing that we have eternity to get there.

If our present evolution stage or our life’s present circumstances make such an approach seem impossible to us, let us do at least what is within our reach. It is true that each one of us had a different education in this life, some having studied more and others less. It is also true that the physical constitution of each person’s brain allows a greater or a smaller manifestation of the person’s mental capacity. However, if we have at least learned to read, there are several good works available only waiting that we take the initiative. So let us set out to work. Let us study the more we can and whenever we can.
 
If we can choose between a futile TV show and an educational telecast let us choose the educational option. If we can choose between a good book and a frivolous talk, let us either choose the book or make an effort to change the conversation to serious issues.

If reading was impossible for us to learn in this life or if our eyes are sick and reading is painful, even then we are not restrained to learn. Given that we can choose between staying at home complaining about our deficiencies and go to places where we can learn, let us be brave and make the better choice.

As I said before, if we still think that we are not prepared to imitate the example of Sor Juana, let us at least take the first steps on that direction.

*

Sor Juana also taught us how to be detached from worldly possessions and have a sense of priority. When she decided to dedicate to charity she sell all her books and instruments and applied the money on helping the needed ones. She had those books and instruments to instruct herself and not to be in sick possession of them. Having decided to dedicate herself to charity she didn’t hesitate in giving them away.

In The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chap. VI, Item 5, the Spirit of Truth advises us: “Spiritists! Love one another, that is the first precept; educate yourselves is the second.”

If educating ourselves is the second percept, loving one another is the first one. So if we have to put by the urgent need to educate ourselves in order to practice Christian love let us not hesitate doing so.

Let us remember once more that many modest attitudes can be inspired in Sor Juana’s life. Let us imagine that a disturbed person borrows from us a book that we love and fails to return it. Let us accept that event naturally, thinking that the book in the person’s hand may turn out more useful than if it were in ours. If what pleases us most is studying and a chance happens for us to help someone in need, let us learn how to stop our study so that we can be useful to our brother or sister. If we have everything ready to attend a lecture by a famous spiritist speaker and we meet a person needing our love, wanting to talk to us or just to use us to breath our its problems, let us be patient, knowing, as Sor Juana did, that whenever Christian charity is needed, study can and has to be left for a later time. It is clear that we must have our feelings and reason alert so that we do not take hypocrisy or exaggerated emotions for real needs. Nevertheless, if we don’t take as a directive that charity prevails over study we run the risk of failing when more is expected from us.

Let us finally remember that charity isn’t only the act of giving alms or volunteering to help in a house for old people, an orphanage or some place like that. No, charity is something to be practiced always. Charity is having patience to listen and to give advice to those that know less than we do, either they are aware of it or believe that they are wiser than us. Charity is knowing how to listen, paying attention to what everyone has to say, no matter one’s age, sex, race or religion. Charity is developing unconditional love to all the beings around us, never doing harm to any of them and looking upon each one with love and consideration, acknowledging that we are all, with no exception, children of the same Father.


*

Note: Authors disagree as to the year of Juana de Asbaje’s birth, something that all the events that follow depend on. Some sources mention year 1651 while other ones mention 1648. We have adopted 1648 in this work because it’s the one most frequently present in Sor Juana’s biographies available in the Web.


Bibliography
  • Costa, Renato. Aprendendo com Joanna de Ângelis (Learning From Joanna de Ângelis). Lecture given at Instituição Espírita Joanna de Ângelis (Joanna de Ângelis Spiritist Institution), December 11, 2003.
  • Expoentes da Codificação Espírita (Exponents of the Spiritist Codification). Curitiba: Federação Espírita do Paraná, 2002.
  • Kardec, Allan. The Gospel According to Spiritism. London: The Headquarters Publishing Co., 1987
  • Paz, Octavio. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o Las Trampas de la Fé (Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz or The Traps of Faith). Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.
  • Santos, Celeste e Franco, Divaldo P. A Veneranda Joanna de Ângelis (Venerable Joanna de Ângelis). Salvador: LEAL, 1998.
  • Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. December 2003. URL: http://www.uni-mainz.de/~lustig/texte/antologia/sorjuana.htm
  • Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Rincón Literário-Escritores. December 2003. URL: http://www.valvanera.com/rinconlit/sjicruz.htm
  • The Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Project. The Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Dartmouth College. Hanover, New Hampshire. December 2003. URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sorjuana/


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 ° THE CODIFICATION

THE TRUTH

The Spirits' Book, Question 628: Why has not the truth been always placed within reach of every one?

"Each thing can only come in its time. Truth is like light; you must be accustomed to it gradually; otherwise it only dazzles you."

"Hitherto, God has never permitted man to receive communications so full and instructive as those which he is permitted to receive at this day. There were, undoubtedly, in ancient times, as you know, individuals who were in possession of knowledge which they considered as sacred, and which they kept as a mystery from those whom they regarded as profane. You can well understand, from what you know of the laws which govern the phenomena of spiritcommunication, that they received only a few fragmentary truths, scattered through a mass of teachings that were generally emblematic, and often erroneous. Nevertheless, there is no old philosophic system, no tradition, no religion, that men should neglect to study; for they all contain the germs of great truths, which, however they may seem to contradict each otherperverted as they are by their mixture with various worthless accessories-may be easily coordinated, with the aid of the key that Spiritism gives you to a class of facts which have hitherto seemed to be contrary to reason, but of which the reality is irrefutably demonstrated at the present day. You should therefore not fail to make those old systems a subject of study, for they are rich in lessons, and may contribute largely to your instruction."

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 ° ELECTRONIC BOOKS

LIFE AND DESTINY

BY

LEON DENIS

AUTHOR OF ‘APRÈS LA MORT,’ ‘JEANNE D’ARC-MÉDIUM’

‘CHRISTIANISME ET SPIRITISME,’ ‘DANS L’INVISIBLE’

‘LA GRANDE ÉNIGME,’ ‘POURQUOI LA VIE?’

‘L’AU-DELÀ ET LA SURVIVANCE DE L’ÉTRE’

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

LONDON GAY & HANCOCK LTD.

1919

This book is out of print indefinitely. 

1st Electronic Edition by 

the Spiritist Group of New York (SGNY)
and the Advanced Study Group of Spiritism (GEAE)
 
2002

INTRODUCTION

In the evening of life, the thinker is struck with a sorrowful impression of the futility of human existence. He perceives how the teachings dispensed by institutions of learning in general - churches, schools, universities - enable you to acquire many of those matters which are of vast importance in the conduct of terrestrial existence, and in the preparation for life Beyond. Those to whom is given the high mission of enlightening and guiding the human soul, seem to ignore its nature and its real destiny. In the midst of universities a complete incertitude reigns upon the solution of the most important problems ever presented to man in his passage through earth. This incertitude exists in every thing, which touches upon the problem of life, its aim, and its end.

We find the same impotence among the clergy. By their affirmations, denuded of all proofs, they have little success in communicating to the souls in their charge a faith which responds to sane criticism or the exigencies of reason. The inquiring soul, in fact, encounters in the universities and in the churches but obscurity and contradiction on everything which touches the problems of its nature and its future. It is to this condition of things that we must attribute in great part the evils of our times - the incoherence of ideas, the disorders of conscience, the moral and social anarchy.

The education dispensed to the generations is complicated, but it does not light the path of life for them, it does not gird them for the battle of existence. Classic education teaches the cultivation and the ornamentation of the intellect; it does not teach how to act, how to love, how to perform duty. Still less does it instruct how to form a conception of the destiny, which develops profound energies in us, and elevates our every aim toward a lofty goal.

Nevertheless, this conception of life is indispensable to every being and to all society, for it is the sustaining power and the supreme consolation in hours of trouble, the source of virile virtues and high inspirations. Carl du Prel tells the following fact:

‘One of my friends, a professor in a university, had the sorrow of losing his daughter, which awoke his interest in the problem of immortality. He turned to his colleagues, professors of philosophy, hoping to find consolation. It was a bitter disappointment. He asked for bread and received a stone; he asked for affirmation, and received a “perhaps.”’ Francis Sarcy, an accomplished professor in a large university, wrote, ‘I am upon this earth. I know absolutely nothing regarding the how or why of my existence. I know even less, how and where I will go when I leave earth.’ A more frank avowal of ignorance on the all-important subject could not be uttered. After centuries of laborious study, the philosophy of the schools is without light, without warmth, without life.1

The minds of our children are tossed between diverse and contradictory systems: the positivism of August Comte, the naturalism of Hegel, the materialism of Stuart Mill, and many more - all uncertain, all without ideals, yet precise.

From these arises the precocious tendency toward destructive pessimism - malady of a decadent society, a terrible menace for the future; to which is added the skepticism of our young men, who believe in nothing but wealth and honor and material success.

Raoul Pictet, the eminent professor, speaks of this mental condition of the young, in the introduction of his first work on psychic science. He speaks of the disastrous effect produced by material theories, and concludes thus: ‘These poor young men declare that all which occurs in the world is the fatal and necessary result of preceding conditions, and that human will can in no way intervene. They believe themselves the playthings of fate, tied hand and foot to a relentless destiny. These young men cease to make any effort to succeed at the first obstacle they encounter. They have no faith in themselves - they become their own living tombs wherein they bury their hopes, their efforts, their desires.’ This applies, not only to a portion of our young men, but to many men of our time and generation in whom we recognize a moral lassitude and weakness.

Frederick Myers, author of Human Personality, has also said on this subject, ‘Pessimism is the moral malady of the times; there is a lack of confidence in the true value of life.’ The doctrines of Nietzsche, of Schopenhauer, of Haeckel, have largely contributed toward developing this state of things. Their influence has been far-reaching. To them we may attribute the skepticism and discouragement, in a great measure, which emanates from the contemporaneous mind: the utter lack of all that makes the ardor of life, its joyousness, its confidence in the future - those virile qualities of the race.

It is time to battle with vigor against these funeral doctrines, and to seek outside of the old official beliefs new methods of instruction, which respond to the imperious needs of the present hour. We must prepare souls for the necessities, for the combats of actual life, and life further on. We must above all teach human souls to understand and develop, in view of the final end, the latent forces which sleep within.

Until now, thought has been confined in narrow circles, religions, schools, and systems that exclude and combat all ideas at variance with their own. We must rise out of this rigid circle, and give our thoughts a larger freedom; every system contains a part of the truth, no one contains the entire truth. The universe and life have aspects too varied, too numerous for any one system of teaching to embrace wholly.

We must take the fragments of truth which each contains and fit them together until they form a united pattern; then add to them the aspects of truth which we discover from day to day, through the majestic harmony of our awakened thought. The decadence of our epoch comes largely from the imprisoned and restricted state of the human mind.2 We must stir it out of its inertia and its creed-bound limits, and lift it toward high altitudes without losing sight of the solid base, which affords it and enlarged and renewed science. This science of the future we must work to establish. It will procure the indispensable criterion, the means of verification, and the control without which thought, left to its freedom, risks the danger of losing its way.

We have said that trouble and incertitude are everywhere found in our social conditions. Within and without, there is a state of inquietude. Under the brilliant surface of a refined civilization is hidden a deep malady. Irritation increases in social circles; the conflict of interests and the battle for life becomes every day more acute.

Humanity, weary of dogmas, and speculations without proof, is plunged in materialism or indifference. From whence, then, comes this doctrine? Toward what abyss are we being drawn? What new ideal will come to give man the confidence in the future and ardor for achievement? In the tragic hours of history, when the situation seemed desperate, succor was at hand. The human soul cannot perish: in the moment when our old faiths are hidden by a veil, a new conception of life and destiny, based upon science and facts, reappears. The Great Tradition is revived under new forms, larger and more beautiful. It reveals to all a future full of hope and promise. Salute, then, the new reign of the idea, victorious over matter, and work to prepare fair ways for its footsteps.

The task is great, and the education of mankind must be entirely reconstructed. This education, we have seen, neither the university nor the Church is prepared to give, since neither possesses the necessary synthesis to cast light upon the pathway of new generations. One doctrine alone can offer this synthesis - that of scientific spiritual research.

Already it shows a horizon to the world, and promises to illuminate the future. And this philosophy, this science, free, independent, liberated from all official restrictions, from all compromising politics, is adding every day new and precious discoveries to its storehouse of knowledge. The phenomena of magnetism, of radioactivity, of telepathy, are but applications of the one principle, the manifestation of the One Law, which, regulated at the same time, beings and universes.

A few more years of patient labor, of conscientious experimentation, of persistent research, and the New Education will have its scientific formulae, its essential base; this event will be the grandest fact since the coming of Christianity. Education, we all know, is the most powerful factor in progress. It contains the germ of the entire future; but to be complete, education should inspire the mind of man to study life in two alternating forms - the visible and the invisible: ‘Life in its plenitude, in its evolution towards the summit of nature and of thought.’

The teachers of humanity have, then, an immediate duty to fill: it is to put scientific spiritual research at the base of education, and thus to remake the interior man and his moral health. The soul of man, sleeping under a funereal rhetoric, must be awakened, and its hidden powers developed into full consciousness until they recognize their glorious destiny. Modern science analyses the exterior world; its discoveries in the objective universe are profound, and this is to its honor and glory.

But it knows nothing of the universe invisible, and the world interior. It is a limitless empire, which remains to be conquered. To learn by what ties man is attached to the Whole; to descend into the mysteries of Being, where light and shadow are mixed as in Plato’s cavern; to search the labyrinths and bring forth their secrets; to separate the ME normal from the ME divine, the conscious from the subconscious, there is no study more important.

Because the schools and the academies have not introduced this form of education into their programs, they have in reality done nothing definite for the education of humanity. But already there is surging a new and marvelous psychology, from which is being evolved a new conception of Being, and knowledge of One Law supreme, which explains all the problems of evolution and of the future. An era is finishing, a new era is dawning. We are like infants, crying in the night; the human spirit is in travail. Everywhere we see the apparent decomposition of old ideas and principles, in science, in art, in philosophy, and in religion.

But the attentive observer realizes that out of all this decay a new harvest will grow; science is scattering seeds rich, which promise. The coming century will be one of wonderful flowering. The forms and conceptions of the past do not suffice us. However respectable is the heritage, and in spite of the pious sentiment with which we consider the teachings of our parents, there is a growing consciousness that this teaching does not suffice to dissipate the agonizing mystery of the ‘why’ of life.

The state of the human mind today clamors for a science, an art, and a religion of light and of liberty to guide it toward the radiant horizon where it feels it is drawn by its own nature and by irresistible forces. We speak often of progress, but what progress? It is but a sonorous and empty word upon the lips of orators, more frequently materialists than otherwise, or has it a determined sense? Twenty civilizations have passed over the earth, lighting the path of humanity. Their flames shone in the nights of the centuries, and then became extinguished. And still man does not discern behind the limited horizons of his thoughts the Beyond without limit, which is the goal of his destiny. Powerless to dissipate the mystery, which surrounds him, he uses his forces in material labors, and neglects the splendors of the spiritual task, which would bring him true grandeur. The faith of progress must mean a faith in the future of all the races. Not until we possess that faith, and march with confidence toward that ideal, can true progress come.

Progress does not mean the creation of material things - of machines, and industrial growth. Nor does it consist in finding new methods in art, literature, and eloquence. The high objective of progress is to seize and attain the mother idea, which impregnates all human life, the pure source from which flows at once the truths, the principles, the sentiments, which inspire great works and noble actions. It is time we comprehended this fact; civilization cannot grow, society cannot better itself, save through the acquiring of thoughts that are more and more elevated, and the increase of light touching and renovating human hearts. The power to realize the fullness of being can alone lead the soul toward the mountain summits where every human endeavor will find its regeneration. Everything says to us - ‘The universe is regulated by the law of evolution; it is there we find the word progress.’ In ourselves and our principles of life, we are always subject to this law. But only by our own efforts do we learn that this same sovereign law carries the soul and its works across infinite time and space, toward a goal still more elevated. To make our work useful, to cooperate with evolution in general, and to reap its fruits, we must first lean to discern, to seize the reason, the cause, and the aim of this evolution, to know where it leads, in order to participate in the plenitude of the forces and faculties which sleep in us on this glorious path of ascension. Let us press on, then, toward the future, through the life always being renewed, and through paths of immensity, which open to us a regenerated spirituality.

Faiths of the past, sciences, philosophies, religions, illuminate yourselves with a new flame! Shake off your shrouds and the ashes, which cover you. Listen to the revealing voices of the tomb; they will bring you a renewal of thought, with secrets of the Beyond, which man has need to know, that he live better, better act, and better die.


1 A propos of the examinations in the universities, Mr. Ducas Doyen of the Faculty of Aix, wrote in the Journal of 3rd May 1912: ‘There seems to be between the minds of the pupils and the things they study a sort of cloud - an opaqueness. It is particularly in philosophy that one feels this unfortunate impression.’

2 These lines were written before the war. We must recognize that, during the course of this gigantic strife, the young Frenchmen have shown a heroism above all eulogy; but the national education does not show in that, it is rather the result of sleeping qualities which have wakened in the heart of the race.
   
Next: PART FIRST: THE PROBLEM OF LIFE / Chapter I: The Evolution of Thought


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 ° SPIRIT MESSAGES

The Divine Law of Cause and Effect

Spirit communication received by Yvonne Limoges on November 24, 2005


It has been said, “Be clean in thought, word, and deed.” But, what does this mean as it pertains to the law of cause and effect?

Your thoughts are as an open door to those in the spirit world who would influence you further in amplifying your impure thoughts. You then fantasize and revel in their possibilities, and by doing this, you attract more and more impure spirits that will come to surround you and try to prod you, possibly into acting on these wrongful thoughts if you have a weak moment, or, if an opportunity presents itself for you to act upon them making grave errors. Your thoughts create these effects.

Your words once spoken cannot be taken back, so think prior to speaking before you hurt to the core those you may truly love or care about (and who love and care about you), those who have shown you kindness, made sacrifices for you, to those who have put up with your own faults, and those who you owe your allegiance to in one way or another. Words can criticize, blame, slander, and incite anger; all acting as cutting daggers against those you hurl them at. This can then lead to the terrible effects of sadness, disappointment, bitterness, animosity, violence, or worse, retaliation.

Your deeds speak for themselves…there are examples of who you truly are as a person, for one can say one will do this or that, but a deed shows you mean it. Deeds should always be good ones, of charity and love. Wrongful, hateful deeds (the cause)will bring the same upon you (its effects) eventually.

Thoughts, words, and deeds need to be carefully weighed. Then using your freewill you must discern whether they are of a good or bad quality. Those you find that are harmful, useless, spiteful, prideful, or vengeful, reject them! When you do, you turn away those spirits in the spirit world who would be instantly attracted to you and who would use them against you in delaying your soul’s moral progression.

The law of cause and effect attracts good and loving spirits to inspire, assist, and console you by your goodness, and, imperfect and harmful spirits who cause you harm are attracted to you if you are impure in anyway.

Like always attracts like. So, also surround yourself upon the earth on the material plane with those who are relatively good persons, for those are the types of spirits who will be surrounding them.

Always be conscious of yourself, and make strong efforts to make wise decisions regarding how you conduct yourself or, suffer the consequences of the law.                    
                           
                                         
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