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

371
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
Want of aptitude for the career on which one has entered is an inexhaustible source of reverses; and as he
who has thus failed in one career in often prevented by pride front seeking a resource in some humbler
avocation, he is often tempted to commit suicide in order to escape what he regards as a humiliation:
whereas, if a sound moral education had raised him above the stupid prejudices of pride, he would have
been at no loss to obtain the means of subsistence.
929. There are persons who, being utterly without resources, though surrounded by
abundance, have no other prospect than starvation. What course should they take under such
circumstances? Ought they to allow themselves to die of hunger?
"No one should ever admit into his mind the idea of allowing himself to die of hunger; a man
could always find the means of obtaining food if pride did not interpose itself between want
and work. It has often been said that 'No work is dishonourable it honestly done;' but this is
one of the aphorisms that each man is more prompt to apply to his neighbour than to
himself."
930. It is evident that, were it not for the social prejudices by which we allow ourselves to be
swayed, a man would always be able to find some sort of work that would enable him to gain
a living, even though he thus took a humbler position; but among those who have no such
prejudices, or who put them aside, are there not some who are really unable to provide for
their wants, through illness, or through other circumstances independent of their will?
"In a society organised according to the law of Christ, no one would die of hunger."
Were society organised with wisdom and forethought, no one could lack the necessaries of life unless
through his own fault ; but a man's faults themselves are often the result of the circumstances in which he
finds himself placed. When men shall have advanced sufficiently to practise the law of God, they will not
only be better intrinsically and as individuals, but will organise their social relations on a basis of justice
and charity. (793)
931. Why is it that, in our world, the classes that suffer are so much more numerous than
those that are prosperous?
"None of you are perfectly happy, and what the world regards as prosperity often hides the
most poignant sorrows. Suffering is everywhere. However, by way of replying to the thought
which prompted your question, I answer, that what you call the suffering classes are the most
numerous, because the earth is a place of expiation. When mankind shall have made it the
sojourn of goodness and of good spirits, there will be no more unhappiness in the earth,
which will then be a terrestrial paradise for all its inhabitants."