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

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CHAPTER XII
MORAL PERFECTlON
1. VIRTUES AND VICES - 2. THE PASSION - 3. SELFISHNESS
- 4.CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VIRTUOUS MAN
- SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Virtues and Vices.
893. Which is the most meritorious of all the virtues?
"All virtues are meritorious, for all of them are signs of progress on the upward road. There is
virtue in every act of voluntary resistance to the seductive influence of evil tendencies; but the
sublimity of virtue consists in the sacrifice of self-interest to the good of others. The highest
of all virtues is that which takes the form of the widest and most disinterested kindness."
894. There are persons who do good from a spontaneous impulse, without having to
overcome any opposite feeling; is there as much merit in their action as in that of others who,
in doing good, have to struggle with their own nature, and to surmount an opposing impulse?
"Those who have no longer to struggle against selfishness are those who have already
accomplished a certain amount of progress. They have struggled and triumphed in the past,
and their generosity, therefore, no longer costs them any effort. To do good seems to them to
be perfectly natural, because they have acquired the habit of kindness. They should be
honoured as veterans, who have won their grades on the field of battle.
"As you are still far from perfection, such persons strike you with astonishment, because their
action contrasts so strongly with that of the rest of mankind, and you admire it in proportion
to its rarity; hut you must know that what is the exception in your world is the rule in worlds
of more advanced degree. In those worlds goodness is everywhere spontaneous, because they
are inhabited only by good spirits, among whom even an evil intention would be considered
as an exceptional monstrosity. It is this