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

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888. What is to be thought of alms-giving?
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
"To be reduced to beg degrades a man morally as well as physically; it brutifies him. In a state
of society based on the law of God and justice, provision would be made for assisting the
weak without humiliating. them; the means of living would be insured to all who are unable
to work, so as not to leave their life at the mercy of chance and of individual good-will."
- Do you blame alms-giving?
"No; it is not the giving of alms that is reprehensible, but the way in which it is too often
done. He who comprehends charity as inculcated by Jesus seeks out the needy, without
waiting for the latter to hold out his hand."
"True charity is always gentle as well as benevolent, for it consists as much in the manner of
doing a kindness as in the deed itself. A service, if delicately rendered, has a double value;
but if rendered with haughtiness, though want may compel its acceptance, the recipient's heart
is not touched by it.
"Remember, also, that ostentation destroys, in the sight of God, the merit of beneficence.
Jesus has said: 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does;' teaching you, by this
injunction, not to tarnish charity by pride and vanity."
"You must distinguish between alms-giving, properly so-called, and beneficence. The most
necessitous is not always he who begs by the wayside. Many, who are really poor, are
restrained from begging by the dread of humiliation, and suffer silently and in secret: he who
is really humane seeks out this hidden misery, and relieves it without ostentation.
"'Love one another;' such is the divine law by which God governs all the worlds of the
universe. Love is the law of attraction for living and organised beings; attraction is the law of
love for inorganic matter."
"Never lose sight of the fact, that every spirit, whatever his degree of advancement, or his
situation in reincarnation or in erraticity, is always placed between a superior who guides and
improves him, and an inferior towards whom he has the same duties to fulfil. Be therefore
charitable; not merely by the cold bestowal of a coin on the mendicant who ventures to beg it
of you, but by seeking out the poverty that hides itself from view. Be indulgent for the defects
of those about you; instead of despising the ignorant and the vicious, instruct them, and make
them better; be gentle and benevolent to your inferiors; he the same for the