189- From the time it is first formed, does a spirit enjoy the fullness of its faculties?
“No. Like a human being, a spirit has its infancy. When they first come into being, spirits have no more than an instinctive existence, possessing only the consciousness of themselves and their actions. Their intelligence only develops little by little.”
190- What is the state of the soul during its first incarnation?
“It resembles the state of infancy in corporeal life. Its intelligence is only beginning to unfold – it tries its hand at life.”
191- Are the souls of our primitives in a state of spiritual infancy?
“It is a relative infancy since they are already-developed souls endowed with passions.”
– So do passions indicate development?
“Development, yes, but not perfection. They are a sign of activity and an awareness of the Self. In the very young soul, intelligence and life exist only in a seed-like state.”
The life of spirits as a whole follows the same phases as corporeal life. A spirit passes gradually from the embryonic state to that of childhood. Over a succession of periods it arrives at the adult state, which is that of perfection, but with the difference that there is no decline or decrepitude as in corporeal life. Even though its life had a beginning, it will have no end, and from our point of view it needs an enormous amount of time to pass from spirit infancy to complete development. Furthermore, its progress does not all occur on one globe only, but on several. The life of the spirit is thus comprised of a series of corporeal existences, each providing an opportunity for progress in the same way that each corporeal existence is comprised of a series of days, over which the individual acquires greater experience and knowledge. Nevertheless, just as in human life there are fruitless days, likewise in the life of a spirit there are corporeal existences that yield no improvement because it did not know how to live them productively.
192- Through perfect conduct in this life, can we hurdle all the degrees and become pure spirits without having passed through the intermediate ones?
“No, because what humans imagine as perfection is actually very far from it; there are qualities they neither know about nor comprehend. They may be as perfect as their nature permits, but it is not absolute perfection. It is like certain children who, no matter how precocious they may be, must still pass through youth before arriving at maturity; or ailing individuals who must go through convalescence before recovering their health. Furthermore, spirits must advance in knowledge as well as in morality, and if they have progressed in one sense only, they will have to do so in the other in order to reach the top of the ladder. Nevertheless, the more individuals advance in their present life, the shorter and less painful their subsequent trials will be.”
– Can humans in this life at least assure themselves of a less bitter future existence?
“Yes, of course. They can reduce the length and difficulties of the path. Only the negligent remain at a standstill.”
193- During their new existences, can humans regress to a lower level than the one they have already reached?
“In social position, yes; as a spirit, no.”
194- During a new incarnation, can the soul of a moral individual animate the body of a scoundrel?
“No, because a spirit cannot regress.”
– Can the soul of a wicked individual become the soul of a moral one?
“Yes. If it repents, such would be a reward.”
The evolution of spirits is progressive and never regressive. They raise themselves gradually through the hierarchy and do not descend from the level they have reached. In their different corporeal lives, they may descend as individuals but not as spirits. Thus, the soul of a powerful person may later animate a humble artisan, and vice versa, because positions among individuals are frequently the inverse of the elevation of their morality. Herod was a king; Jesus was a carpenter.
195- Mightn’t the possibility of improving oneself in another existence lead some persons to persevere on the evil path with the thought that they can always correct themselves later?
“Those who think that way do not really believe anything at all. The idea of eternal punishment no longer restrains them because their reason rejects it; instead, it leads them to question everything. If only reasonable means were used to guide humans, there would be no such skeptics. During its corporeal life, an imperfect spirit may think as you have stated, but once released from matter it thinks very differently. It soon perceives that it has calculated badly, and so to make up for it, it will carry an opposite sentiment into its new existence. Progress is accomplished thereby, which is why on the earth there are those who are more advanced than others. Some have already had the experiences that others have yet to go through; the latter acquire such experiences little by little. It depends on each individual to hasten his or her own progress or to delay it indefinitely.”
Persons who find themselves in a dreadful situation desire to change it as quickly as possible. Those who have convinced themselves that the tribulations of this life are the consequence of their own imperfections will seek to ensure a new existence that is less painful. This thought will draw them away from the path of evil much more readily than the thought of eternal fire, which they know to be pure nonsense.
196- Since spirits can only improve by undergoing the sufferings and tribulations of corporeal existence, does it follow that material life may be seen as a type of sieve or filter through which the beings of the spirit world must pass in order to arrive at perfection?
“Yes, that is right. They improve during such trials by avoiding evil and practicing the good. However, it is only after many incarnations or successive purifications and after a longer or shorter lapse of time that, according to their own efforts, they reach the goal meant for them.”
– Does the body influence the spirit to improve it, or does the spirit influence the body?
“Your spirit is everything. Your body is a garment that rots – that is all.”
We have a material image of the various degrees of the soul’s purification in the juice of the vine. It contains the liquor called spirits or alcohol, but it is weakened by the large quantity of foreign elements that alter its essence. It only reaches absolute purity after several distillations, each removing a portion of the impurities. The alembic represents the body into which the soul must enter to purify itself; the foreign elements are like the perispirit, which is more and more purified as the spirit approaches perfection.
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