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

373
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
Loss of Those We Love.
934. Is not the loss of those who are dear to us a legitimate source of sorrow, seeing that this
loss is both irreparable and in-dependent of our action?
"This cause of sorrow, which acts alike upon rich and poor, is the common law of humanity,
for it is either a trial or an expiation; but you have the consolation of holding communication
with your friends through the means already possessed by you, while awaiting other means
that will be more direct, and more accessible to your senses."
935. What is to be thought of the opinion which regards communication with those who are
beyond the grave as a profanation?
"There can be no profanation where there is reverent concentration of thought and sympathy,
and when the evocation is made with fitting respect; and the proof of this is found in the fact
the spirits who love you take pleasure in coming to you; they rejoice in being remembered by
you, and in being able to converse with you. But there would be profanation in this
communication if carried on in a spirit of frivolity."
The possibility of entering into communication with spirits is most consoling, since it gives us the means
of holding converse with those o~ our relatives and friends who have quitted the earthly life before us. By
our evocation, we draw them nearer to us they come to our side, hear us, and reply to us there is, so to
say. no longer any separation between them and us. They aid us with their counsels, and assure us of the
pleasure afforded them by our remembrance It is a satisfaction for us to know that they are happy, to
learn from themselves the details of their new existence, and to acquire the certainty of our rejoining
them in our turn.
936. What effect has the inconsolable sorrow of survivors upon the spirits who are the object
of that sorrow?
"A spirit is touched by the remembrance and regrets of those he has loved; but a persistent
and unreasonable sorrow affects him painfully, because he sees, in this excessive grief, a want
of faith in the future and confidence in God, and, consequently, an obstacle to the
advancement of the mourner, and, perhaps, to their reunion."
A spirit, when disincarnated, being happier than he was upon the earth, to regret his change of life is to
regret his being happy. Two friends are prisoners, shut up in the same dungeon both of them are some
day to be set at liberty, but one of them obtains his deliverance before the other. Would it be kind on the
part of him who remains in prison to regret that his friend has been set at liberty before him? Would
there not be on his part more selfishness than affection In wishing his friend to remain in captivity and
suffering as long as himself? It is the same with two persons who love one another upon the earth; he who
quits it first is the first delivered ; and the other ought to rejoice in his deliverance, while awaiting with
patience the moment when he shall he delivered in his turn.