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

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
845. Are not the instinctive predispositions that a man brings with him at birth an obstacle to
the exercise of his free-will?
"A man's instinctive predispositions are those which belonged to his spirit before his
incarnation. If he is but little advanced, they may incite him to wrongdoing, in which he will
be seconded by spirits who sympathise with that wrong-doing; but no incitement is
irresistible when there is a determination to resist. remember that to will is to be able." (361.)
846. Has not our organism an influence on the acts of our life, and if so, does not this
influence constitute an infringement of our free-will?
"Spirits are certainly influenced by matter, which may hamper them in their manifestations.
This is why, in worlds in which the body is less gross than upon the earth, the faculties act
more freely; but the instrument does not give the faculty. In considering this question, you
must also distinguish between moral faculties and intellectual faculties. If a man has the
instinct of murder, it is assuredly his spirit that possesses this instinct, and not his organs. He
who annihilates his thought, in order to occupy himself only with matter, becomes like the
brute, and still worse, for he no longer endeavours to preserve himself from evil, and it is this
which constitutes his culpability, because he does so of his own free-will." (See No.367 et
seq., Influence of Organism.)
847. Does aberration of the mental faculties deprive man of free-will?
“He whose intelligence is deranged by any cause whatever is no longer master of his
thoughts, and thenceforth is no longer free. Mental aberration is often a punishment for the
spirit who, in another existence, has been vain or haughty, or has made a bad use of his
faculties. He may be re-born in the body of an idiot, as the despot may be re-born in the body
of a slave, and the hard-hearted possessor of riches, in that of a beggar; but the spirit suffers
from this constraint, of which he is fully conscious; and it is in this constraint that you see the
action of matter." (371 et seq.)
848. Is the aberration of the mental faculties produced by drunkenness an excuse for the
crimes committed in that state?
"No; for the drunkard has voluntarily deprived himself of his reason in order to satisfy his
brutish passions. He thus commits. not one crime, but two."