Reincarnation Means Hope

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM

CHAPTER IV

Except a Man Be Born Again He Cannot See The Kingdom Of God

THE NEED FOR INCARNATION

CONTENTS

It is no sentiment of either hostility or ill-will which has dictated these pages. Ill-will we feel for none. Whatever be the errors or faults of those who profess Christ and His doctrine, the thought of Jesus Himself awakes in us only feelings of profound respect and sincere admiration. Educated in the Christian religion, we know well all that it contains of poetry and grandeur. If we have abandoned the dominions of the catholic faith for those of the philosophy of spiritualism, we have not, on that account, forgotten the influences of our childhood, the flower-decked altar before which our young head was bowed, the grand harmony of the organ, the deep and solemn chants, the dim light filtering through the stained glass windows, and quivering above the faithful prostrated on the bare, cold stones. We have not forgotten that the ancient cross throws its shadow over the graves of those we have best loved on earth. If there is for us one image revered and sacred above all others, it is that of the victim of Calvary, of the martyr nailed to the tree of infamy, and who, wounded, crowned with thorns and dying, forgave His tormentors.

Even today we cannot hear unmoved the far-off call of the church-bells, whose brazen tones ring out and waken the echoes of the woods and vales. And in hours of sadness, we love to meditate in the silent and solitary church, under the penetrating influence there accumulated by the prayers, the aspirations, and the tears of so many generations.

But a question forces itself on us, a question which has been answered by many, through thought and study. All this paraphernalia, which appeals to the sense and touches the heart, all these manifestations of art, the pomp of the Roman Rite and the glamour of the ceremonial, are they not as a glittering veil which hides the poverty of idea and the unsufficiency of teaching? Is it not the knowledge of her powerlessness to satisfy the high faculties of the soul, intelligence, judgement, and reason, that has forced the Church into these material and external manifestations?
   
Protestantism, at least, is more sober. If it disdains outward forms and scenic effects, it is to bring out more clearly the grandeur of the idea. It establishes the sole authority of conscience and teaches a spiritual worship, and step by step, from conclusion to conclusion, arrives logically at unfettered examination, that is to say, philosophy.

We know how much that is sublime is contained in the doctrine of Christ; we know that it is, above all, the doctrine of love, the religion of pity, of mercy, and of fraternity among men. But is it the doctrine of Jesus which is taught by the Church? Do the words of the Nazarene come to us pure and untainted, and is the interpretation given us by the Church free from all prarasitical and all foreign element?

There is no question more serious, more worthy of the attention of thinkers and of all those who love and search for truth. It is this which we propose to make the subject of our enquiry in the first part of this book, avoiding all that could unsettle conscience, stir up evil passions, or promote strife among men.

This task, it is true, has been undertaken by others before us. But their object, their means of investigation and of proof differed from ours. They have studied less how to build up than to destroy, whereas we have primarily set before us the work of reconstruction and synthesis. We have endeavoured to extricate from the shadow of the ages, from the confusion of facts and of texts the central living thought, which is the pure source, the vital and radiant germ of Christianity, and at the same time, to offer an explanation of the strange phenomena which characterised its origins, phenomena which at any time may be, and indeed are being renewed every day, under our eyes, and which can be explained by natural laws. In these same phenomena until now unexplained, to which science has at length turned her attention, we find the solution of problems for so many centuries beyond the reach of human reason: the knowledge of our true nature and the law of our growing destinies.

One of the most powerful objections addressed by modern criticism to Christianity, is that its moral teaching and its doctrine of immortality, rest only on a collection of facts, so-called "miraculous," which man, enlightened as to the action of the laws of nature, cannot to-day admit. If miracles, they add, were necessary in olden times to induce a belief in a hereafter, are they any less so at this present time of doubt and incredulity? And besides, to what cause are these miracles to be attributed? It cannot be, as some would have it, to the divine nature of Christ, since His disciples performed them also.

A powerful light will be thrown on the question, and the assertions of Christianity concerning immortality will gain both in force and authority, if it is possible to prove that these so-called "miraculous" facts have been produced in all ages, particularly in our own, that they are the result of free, invisible and constantly acting causes, subject to immutable laws; if, in a word, we see in them, not miracles, but natural phenomena, a form of evolution and of the survival of our being after death.

That is precisely one of the consequences of Spiritualism. A profound study of the after-death manifestations shows us that they have taken place at all times, whenever persecutions did not obstruct them too violently; that nearly all the great missionaries, the founders of sects and relitions have been inspired mediuns; that a permanent communion exists, and unites the two humanities, that of this earth and that of space.

These facts are reproducing themselves around us with renewed intensity. For the last fifty years, forms have appeared, voices made themselves heard, messages have come to us by raps or by incorporation as well as by automatic writing. Proofs of identity coming in great number revealed to us the presence of those near to us, of those we have loved on earth, who have been of our own flesh and blood and from whom death had temporarily separated us. By their communications, their teachings, we learn something of that mysterious hereafter, the object of so many dreams, disputes and contradictions. The conditions of this future life become more clearer to our understanding. The darkness which reigned over these questions melts away. The past and the future are illuminated to their uttermost depths.

Thus Spiritualism brings us the natural and tangible proofs of immortality, and thereby carries us back to the pure Christian doctrines, to the very foundation of the Gospel, which Catholicism with its ever-multiplying dogmas, has buried under a mass of varied and foreign elements. By its scrupulous and searching study of the fluidic body, or perispirit, it renders more comprehensible, more acceptable, the phenomena of apparitions and of materialisations on which the Christian Faith entirely rests.

These considerations show the importance of the problems treated of in these pages and of which we offer the solution, basing our conclusions on the attestations of impartial and enlightened men of science, as well as on the result of our personal experiences, closely followed for a period of more than thirty years.

From this point of view, the seasonableness of this work will be denied by none. Never has the need of light on the vital questions with which the fate of society is so closely connected been more keenly felt. Tired of obscure dogmas, of interested theories, of affirmations without proof, the human mind has long since given way to doubt. An inexorable criticism has sifted all systems. Faith has been dried up at its source, the religious ideal has been veiled. At the same time, the high philosophic doctrines have lost their prestige. Man has forgotten at once the way to the temples of religion and the porticoes of wisdom.

To any attentive observer, the times we live in are full of menace. Our civilisation appears brilliant, but by how many stains is it not tarnished? Comfort and riches have become wide-spread, but is it in proportion to its riches that society becomes truly great? Is a sensual and luxurious life the object of man's existence? No! A people only becomes great, only elevates itself, by work, by a love of truth and of justice.

What has become of the civilisations of the past, of those occupied only with the body, its needs and its fancies? They are in ruins, they are dead.

We find again in our time precisely the same dangerous tendencies that wrecked them. They consist in giving undue importance to the material life, in putting before us as our chief aim the conquest of physical enjoyments. Maaterialistic science has narrowed the horizons of life. It has added to its sadness that of systematic negation and despairing ideas of nothingness. And thereby human misery has been aggravated, man has lost, along with his surest moral weapons, the sense of his responsibilities. The very foundations of his being have been shaken. Thus, little by little, characters are weakened, venality increased, immorality spreads itself like an immense plague-spot. What was once only suffering becomes despair. Cases of suicide are increasing in proportions hitherto unknown; and, monstrous fact, never seen in other ages, even children fall victims to this curse of the century.

Against these doctrines of negation and of death, facts themselves speak to-day. A methodical and prolonged investigation brings us this certitude; the human being survives his death, and his fate is the result of his works.

Facts are multiplying themselves endlessly, throwing new light on the nature of life and the non-interrupted evolution of our being. These facts are duly ascertained by science. It now remains to interpret them, to bring them into general view, and especially to understand the laws, the consequences and all that results therefrom concerning our individual and social life.

These facts will revive in us forgotten truths, and give back to man hope,  along with the high ideal which elevates and strengthens. By proving that there is a part of us which does not die, they direct our thoughts and hearts towards those future lives in which justice will find its accomplishment.

Thus all will understand that existence has an object, that moral law is a reality and has a sanction; that there is no useless suffering, no profitless work, no trial withou compensation, but that all is weighed in the balance of the Divine Judge.

Instead of this battlefield of life on which the weak must surely fall, in place of this blind and gigantic world-machine, which crushes out lives, and of which the negative philosophies tell us so much, the New Spiritualism will show to those who seek and suffer the grand vision of a world of equity, of justice and of love, where all is regulated with order, wisdom and harmony.

And thereby suffering will be lightened, the progress of man assured, his work sanctified, and life will take on dignity and grandeur.

For man needs a faith as much as a country and a home. That explains why so many forms of religion, superannuated and moss-grown, still have their partisans. There are in the human heart tendecies and needs that no negative system will ever be able to meet. In spite of its haunting doubt, when the soul suffers, it instinctively turns heavenward. Try as he will to avoid it, man finds the thought of God everywhere in his dradle-songs and in his childhood dreams. There are moments when hthe most hardened sceptic cannot contemplate the starry infinity, the race of the millions of suns rolling ever on through space, nor come in contact with death without respect and emotion.

Above all vain polemics and sterile disputes, there is something that is unaffected by criticism, it is this aspiration of the human soul toward an eternal Ideal which upholds it in its struggles, comforts it in its trials, inspires it in the hour of great resolutions. It is this intuition which tells us that, behind the stage on which life's dramas are played, and the grand spectacle of nature presents itself, there lies hidden a Power, a supreme Cause, which regulates the sucessive phases and traces the great lines of Evolution.

But when will man find the sure path which will bring him to God? Whence will he draw the strong conviction that will guide him, stage by stage, through time and space, towards the final aim of existence? In a word, what will be the faith of the future?

The material and transitory forms of religions pass, but the religious idea, the pure belief, freed from all inferior forms, is indestructible in its essence. The religious ideal will evolve, like all manifestations of thought. It cannot escape the law of progress which governs all creatures and things.

The faith of the future, which is already rising out of the shadow will be neither Catholic nor Protestant; it will be the universal faith of souls, reigning over all the advance societies of space, and through which will cease the antagonism which at present separates science from religion.

For, by and by, science will become religious, and religion scientific. It will be founded on observation, on impartial experiment, and on facts thousands of times repeated. By showing us the objective realities of the spirit world, it will dissolve our doubts, and remove our uncertainties; it will open to us infinite perspectives of the future.

At certain periods of history currents of ideas pass through the world, rousing humanity from its torpor. A breath from above starts a great mental wave, and truths long buried in the night of ages awake and come forth.

They rise from the depths where slumber the treasures of hidden forces, where are combined the elements of renovation, where the divine and mysterious works is elaborated. They manifest themselves under unexpected forms, they reappear and live again. At first they are misunderstood and ridiculed by the people, but they pursue their way unconcerned serene. And a day comes when it has to be recognised that these despised truths indeed come to offer the bread of life, the cup of hope, to all suffering and bleeding souls, that they bring us a new basis of teaching and perhaps also a further means of regeneration.

Such is the position of modern Spiritualism in which are born again so many long forgotten truths. It resumes in itself the beliefs of the sages and the ancient Initiates, the faith of the early Christians and our forefathers the Celts; it reappears under a more powerful form to direct a new and higher stage of the march of humanity.

Spiritists do not lose sight of why you have been blessed to know about Spiritism in this particular lifetime, and that is for you to personally try and better yourself morally and spiritually.

Do you truly believe that reading all the Kardec books once (and many have not even done that) makes you an expert Spiritist qualified to go about proselytizing to others about your belief? You need to constantly read, study, and ponder the wonderful principles of the Doctrine with its moral philosophy to make sure you understand its intricacies. There are also many other Spiritist books about Spiritism as well to read and study. Once you have done all this, are you then applying what you have learned first to yourself?

As for behaving as a Spiritist are you practicing what the superior spirits have instructed – that you daily pray sincerely and fervently to the Creator and the good spirits to become more humble, to be more charitable, to forgive others, to accept with calm resignation all the trials and tribulations of your life, to thank the Creator for the many blessings that you have and to bless others (even those who treat you ill, malign and persecute you), and for the good spirits to assist you to become a better person with their wise counsels?

Are you consistently attending a Spiritist Center (if there is one near you) that teaches love of one another, has serious and sincere meetings where there is emphasis on the study of the morality of the Doctrine? Are the spirit sessions with mediums that are sincere and self-sacrificing, ones that merit the types of spirit communications of those beneficent spirits of high morality, and, that can properly provide education and consolation to those souls who communicate that feel like lost souls? Do these mediums accept their duty as a sacred trust and with humility?

Unless you are scientists conducting serious investigations into psychic phenomena, generally a Spiritist Center should not be involved in trying to produce physical phenomena (materializations, etc.) or other similar activities. It is another thing if they occur spontaneously if permitted by the superior spirits.

A Spiritist is grateful for the services a medium provides but should not idolize them but you should be concentrating on the spirit messages they receive passing it through the sieve of your reason. Not everything a medium or spirit says is true. Analyze every spirit communication so as not to become the dupe of the false spirits who love to fascinate and deceive you.

Psychic phenomena do not exist to be sensationalized, especially by Spiritists, but is for study, analysis, and to prove the existence of the spirit world and the natural faculties the soul possesses.

One can keep open minded about the world around you (through other books, people, events, etc.) but if you neglect your own personal moral betterment you will not have taken full advantage, which should be your main goal, of the gift you were given by being blessed on exposure to the moral principles of Spiritism. Don’t lose sight of that important goal. Don’t forget the moral and spiritual lessons you promised to try and learn during this particular lifetime!

Life After Death: The Evidence,
With Special Consideration to EVP and ITC

Spiritism and Spiritualism come Together Again

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