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

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
tunate and the suffering: and every new discovery of science is made to contribute its quota to the general
weal. Far as we still are from having attained to the perfection of social arrangements, what is already
accomplished gives the measure of what may be done with the aid of perseverance, if men are reasonable
enough to seek after solid and practical improvements, instead of wasting their energies on utopian
projects that put them back instead of helping them forward.
708. Are there not social positions in which the will is powerless to obtain the means of
existence, and in which the privation of the barest necessaries of life is a consequence of the
force of circumstances?
"Yes; but such a position is a trial which, however severe, the party who is subjected to it
knew, in the spirit-state. that he would have to undergo. His merit will result from his
submission to the will of God, if his intelligence does not furnish him with the means of
freeing himself from his troubles. If death supervenes, he should meet it without a murmur,
remembering that the hour of his deliverance is approaching, and that any yielding to despair
at the last moment may cause him to lose the fruit of his previous resignation."
709. In critical situations men have been reduced to devour their fellow--men, as the only
means of saving themselves from starvation. Have they, in so doing, committed a crime' And
if so, is their crime lessened by the fact that it has been committed under the excitement of the
instinct of self-preservation?
"I have already answered this question in saying that all the trials of life should be submitted
to with courage and abnegation. In the cases you refer to there is both homicide and crime
against nature; a double culpability that will receive double punishment."
710. In worlds in which the corporeal organisation of living beings is of a purer nature than
in the earth, do these need food?
"Yes; but their food is in keeping with their nature. Their aliments would not be substantial
enough for your gross stomachs and, on the other hand, those beings could not digest your
heavier food."
Enjoyments of the Fruits of the Earth.
711. Have all men a right to the usufruct of the products of the earth?
"That right is a consequence of the necessity of living. God cannot have imposed a duty
without having given the means of discharging it."