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

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
"What grieves them most is your selfishness and your hard heartedness, for these are the root
of all your troubles. They smile at the imaginary sorrows that are born of pride and ambition;
they rejoice in those which will shorten your term of trial."
Our spirit-friends, knowing that corporeal life is only transitory, and that the tribulations by which it is
accompanied are the means that will enable us to reach a happier state, are more grieved for us by the
moral imperfections which keep us back, than by physical ills, which are only transitory.
Spirits attach as little importance to misfortunes which affect us only in our earthly ideas, as we do to the
trilling sorrows of childhood. Seeing the afflictions of life to be the means of our advancement, they
regard them only as the passing crisis which will restore the sick man to health. They are grieved by our
sufferings, as we are grieved by those of a friend but, judging the events of our lives from a truer point of
view, they appreciate them differently. While inferior spirits try to drive us to despair, in order to hinder
our advancement, the good ones seek to inspire us with the courage that will turn our trials into a source
of gain for our future.
488. Have the relatives and friends who have gone before us into the other life more
sympathy for us than spirits who are strangers to us?
"Undoubtedly they have; and they often protect you as spirits, according to their power."
- Are they sensible of the affection we preserve for them?
"Very sensible; but they forget those who forget them.".
Guardian - Angels - Protecting, Familiar, and Sympathetic Spirits.
489. Are there spirits who attach themselves to a particular individual, in order to protect
and help him?
"Yes, the spirit-brother; what you call the- spirit- protector, or tile good genius."
490. What is to be understood by the expression, "guardian-anger' ?
"A spirit-protector of high degree."
491. What is the mission of a spirit- protector?
"That of a father towards his children-to lead the object of his protection into the right road,
to aid him with his counsels, to console him in his afflictions, and to sustain his courage
under the trials of his earthly life."
492. Is a spirit-protector attached to an individual from his birth?
"From his birth to his death; and he often follows him after death in the spirit-life, and even in
several successive corporeal