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

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
All our actions are subjected to the laws of God; and any wrong doing en our part, however unimportant
It may seem to us, is a violation of those laws. When we undergo the consequences of such violation, we
have only ourselves to thank for It; for we are the sole authors of our happiness or unhappiness, as Is
shown in the following apologue : -
"A father has educated and Instructed his child-that Is to say, he has given him the means of knowing
how to guide himself in the affairs of life. He makes over to him a piece of land to cultivate, and says to
him, 'I have given you the practical directions, and all the necessary implements, for rendering this land
productive, and thereby gaining your living. I have given you all the instruction needed for understanding
those directions. If you follow them, your land will yield abundant harvests, and will furnish you
wherewithal to obtain repose in your old age; if you do not, it will bear nothing but weeds, and you will
die of hunger. And having said this, he leaves him free to act as he pleases."
Is it not true that the land thus given will produce exactly in the ratio of the skill and care bestowed on its
cultivation, and that any mistake or negligence on the part of the son will have an injurious effect on its
productiveness? The son will therefore be well or ill off in his old age, according as he has followed or
neglected the directions given to him by his father. God is still more provident than the earthly father, for
He tells us, every moment, whether we are doing right or doing wrong, through the spirits whom He
constantly sends to counsel us, though we do not always heed them. There is also this further differenceviz.,
that, if the son of whom we have been speaking has misemployed or wasted his time, he has no
opportunity of repairing his past mistakes, whereas, God always gives to man the means, through new
existences, of doing this.
Nature of Future Joys and Sorrows.
965. Is there anything of materiality in the joys and sorrows of the soul after death?
"Common-sense tells you that they cannot be of a material nature, because the soul is not
matter. There is nothing carnal in those joys and sorrows; and yet they are a thousand times
more vivid than those you experience upon the earth; because the spirit when freed from
matter is more impressionable; matter deadens its sensibility." (237-257.)
966. Why does man often form to himself so gross and absurd an idea of the joys and sorrows
of the future life?
"Because his intelligence is still but imperfectly developed. Does the child comprehend as
does the adult ? Besides, his idea of a future life is often a result of the teachings to which he
has been subjected-teachings that are urgently in need of reform.
"Your language being too incomplete to express what lies beyond the range of your present
existence, it has been necessary to address you through comparisons borrowed from that
existence, and you have mistaken the images and figures thus employed for realities; but, in
proportion as man becomes enlightened, his thought comprehends much that his language is
unable to express."
967. In what does the happiness of perfected spirits consist?
"In knowing all things; in feeling neither hatred, jealousy,