Allan Kardec-THE Spirit's Book_ The Principles of Spiritist Doctrine (1989)

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ALLAN KARDEC
their own fault, at a distance from the perfection and the felicity promised to them."
- According to this statement, it would appear that spirits, a' their origin, are like children,
ignorant and without experience, but acquiring, little by little, the knowledge which they lack,
by passing through the different phases of human life?
"Yes; the comparison is correct. The child, if rebellious, remains ignorant and faulty; he
profits more or less according to his docility. But the life of man has a term; whereas that of
spirits stretches out into infinity."
116. Do any spirits remain for ever in the lower ranks?
"No; all become perfect. They change in course of time, however long may be the process of
amendment; for, as we have already said, a just and merciful parent cannot condemn his
children to eternal banishment. Can you suppose that God, so great, so good, so just, is less
kind than you are?"
117. Does it depend on the spirits themselves to hasten their progress towards perfection?
"Certainly; they reach the goal more or less quickly according to the strength of their desire
and the degree of their submission to the will of God. Does not a docile child learn faster than
one who is obstinate and idle?"
118. Can spirits degenerate?
"No; in proportion as they advance, they understand what has retarded their progress. When a
spirit has finished with any given trial, he has learned the lesson of that trial, and never
forgets it. He may remain stationary; but be never degenerates."
119. Could God exonerate spirits from the trials which they have to undergo in order to
reach the highest rank?
"If they had been created perfect, they would not have merited the enjoyment of the benefits
of that perfection. Where would be the merit without the struggle ? Besides, the inequality
which exists between spirits is necessary to the development 6f their personality; and,
moreover, the mission which each spirit accomplishes at each step of his progress is an
element of the providential plan for ensuring the harmony of the universe.”
Since, in social life. all men may reach the highest posts. we might as well ask why the sovereign of a
country does not make a general of each of his soldiers, why all subaltern functionaries are not made
heads of departments, why all scholars are not schoolmasters. But there is this difference between the life
of the social and the spirit worlds, viz., that