The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

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Knowledge of Natural Law

619. Has God given all human being the means of knowing God’s laws?
“While all may know it, they do not all understand it. Those who understand it best are righteous individuals and those who want to examine it. Everyone will understand them one day, as progress must be fulfilled.”


The justice of the multiple human incarnations is a consequence of this principle, since with each new existence, one’s intelligence is more developed and the individual understands more clearly what is good and what is bad. If everything had to be fulfilled by each person in a single existence, what would be the fate of the millions of human beings who die every day in the atrocities of savagery, or in the shadow of ignorance, without having had the opportunity of obtaining enlightenment? (See nos. 177, 222)


620. Before its union with the body, does a spirit understand God’s law more clearly than after incarnation?
“The spirit comprehends it according to the degree of its purification, and recalls the intuitive memory of it after being united with a body. However, human being’s bad instincts often cause the spirit to forget it.”


621. Where is God’s law written?
“In the conscience.”


a) Since we carry God’s law in our consciences, why does it need to be revealed to us?
“You have forgotten and misinterpreted it. God wants it to be recalled to your memories.”


622. Has God entrusted the mission of revealing Divine or natural laws to some individuals?
“Of course. Throughout the course of time, there have been those who have received this mission in every age. They are higher spirits, who have been incarnated for the purpose of advancing human progress.”


623. Have those who allegedly educated humankind sometimes made mistakes, and lead them astray by false logic?
“Those who are not inspired by God and misappropriate a mission not intended for them may lead others astray. Despite this, as they are geniuses, great truths are often found, even among the errors they teach.”


624. What are the characteristics of true prophets?
“True prophets are moral men and women inspired by God. We recognize them by both their words and their deeds alike. God would never rely on the mouth of a liar to preach the truth.”


625. What is the most perfect type that God has offered to human beings as their guide and model?
“Look at Jesus.”


Jesus is the realization of the highest moral perfection that human beings may attain to on Earth. God offers Jesus as our most perfect model and the doctrine taught by him is the purest expression of Divine law, because he was animated by the Divine Spirit and was the purest being that has ever walked the face of Earth.


If a few of those who have claimed to educate us with respect to God’s law have sometimes led us astray by error, it is because they have been swayed by sentiments that are too material in nature. It is also because they have mistaken the laws that regulate the life of the soul with those that regulate that of the body. Many of them presented as divine laws what were really only human ones, created to serve their own passions and to dominate others.


626. Was Jesus the only one who revealed Divine or natural laws to us? Did human beings have no other knowledge than that provided by intuition before Jesus’ time?
“Did we not tell you that those laws are written everywhere? All the men and women who have meditated about wisdom have been able to understand and teach these laws since the dawn of time. By their teachings, despite being incomplete, they have done the legwork and prepared the ground for the sowing of the seed. It has always been possible for humankind to know the Divine laws by simply searching for them since they are written in the book of nature.
Based on this reasoning, honest and respectable men and women throughout time have proclaimed the moral principles of Divine law. For this same reason, the elements of moral law are found in every nation or ethnic group that has progressed above the level of barbarians, although these elements may be incomplete or corrupted by ignorance and superstition.”


627. Since Jesus has taught God’s true laws, what is the point of the teachings imparted by spirits? Do they have anything more to teach us?
“Jesus’ teachings were often allegoric and delivered in the form of parables because he spoke according to his time and where he lived. The time has now come for the truth to be made clear to all. The Divine laws must be explained because few of you understand them, and even fewer practice them. Our mission is to reach the eyes and ears of all, stun pride and expose the hypocrisy of those who disguise their transgressions under the mask of virtue and religion. The teaching of the Spirits must be clear and without error so that no one can feign ignorance and so that all may judge it and evaluate it with their own reason. We must prepare for the reign of good announced by Jesus and provide the explanations to stop humankind from continuing to interpret God’s law according to their passions and distort the meaning of a law that is entirely love and charity.”


628. Why has the truth not been accessible to all in the past?
“Each thing must come in its own time. Truth is like light, you must adjust to it gradually otherwise it dazzles us.” “To date, God has never allowed such comprehensive communications to be transmitted to the human race. Of course in ancient times there were individuals who were in possession of knowledge that they considered sacred and kept as a mystery from those whom they considered as profane. You must understand that, from what you know of the laws that govern these phenomena, only a few fragmentary truths were received, mixed together with generally illustrative and often vague lessons. Regardless, humankind should study every old philosophy, tradition or religion because they all contain the seeds of great truths. Although they may seem to contradict each other as they are misrepresented by worthless embellishments, today they are much easier to comprehend, thanks to the key that Spiritism has provided. Spiritism gives you a host of facts that up until now seemed to conflict with reason, but of which the reality is now unquestionably confirmed. You should continue to study every system because they bring a wealth of lessons and knowledge that may greatly contribute to your education.”

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