920- Can people enjoy complete happiness while on earth?
“No, because life has been given to them as either a trial or an expiation; it is up to them to mitigate their misfortunes and be as happy as possible while on earth.”
921- We can understand that people will be happy on the earth when humanity as a whole is finally transformed, but meanwhile, is it possible for anyone to enjoy relative happiness?
“Most of the time, people are the artisans of their own unhappiness. If they would practice the law of God, they would spare themselves many misfortunes and enjoy a state of happiness that is as great as their existence on such a dense plane will allow.”
Those who have a sufficient understanding of their future destiny do not see their corporeal existence as anything more than a quick journey. It is like a momentary stopover at a dreadful inn. They easily console themselves regarding a few passing annoyances on a journey that will lead them to a better situation to the degree they have prepared themselves for it.
We are punished in this life through the infractions we commit against the laws of corporeal existence, through the misfortunes resulting from such infractions and through our own excesses. If we were to trace what we call our earthly misfortunes back to their origin, we would see that most of them are the result of an early deviation from the straight and true road, thereby entering onto the wrong path; and from one thing to the next, we finally fell into disgrace.
922- Earthly happiness is relative to the position of each person, and what might suffice for the happiness of one would be misfortune for another. Is there nevertheless a common standard of happiness for all?
“For material existence, it is the possession of all that is necessary; for the moral life, it is a good conscience and faith in the future.”
923- Doesn’t that which would be superfluous for one become a necessity for another, and vice versa, according to their social position?
“Yes, according to your materialistic ideas, your prejudices, your ambition, and all your absurd notions, for which the future will demand justice when you finally comprehend the truth. Obviously, those who have had an income of 50,000, who then see it reduced to 10,000, would consider themselves most unfortunate because they cannot maintain the demands of their social status: keeping good horses and servants, gratifying all their passions, etc. They would regard themselves as lacking the necessities. Frankly, however, shouldn’t you consider them worthy of pity while beside them are others who are dying of cold and hunger, without a place to lay their head? To be happy, the wise look down, never up; when they do lift their gaze, it is to raise their own soul toward the infinite.” (See no. 715)
924- There are misfortunes which do not depend on the way we act and which harm the most righteous people. Isn’t there a way to keep ourselves from such misfortunes?
“If you want to progress, you must resign yourselves and endure misfortunes without complaining. However, you will always find consolation within your own conscience, which gives you the hope of a better future, provided you do what is needed to obtain it.”
925- Why does God bless with the goods of wealth certain individuals who do not seem to deserve them?
“It looks like a favor to those who do not see beyond the present; but you yourselves know that wealth is a trial that is usually more dangerous than poverty.” (See nos. 814 ff.)
926- Because it creates new necessities, isn’t civilization the source of new afflictions?
“The misfortunes of this world result from the artificial needs you create for yourselves. People who know how to limit their desires, seeing without greed whatever might lie beyond their means, spare themselves many disappointments in this life. The wealthiest are really those who have the fewest needs.
“You envy the pleasures of the people who appear to be the fortunate ones of this earth. But do you happen to know what is in store for them? If they use their wealth only for themselves, they are selfish and will suffer a reversal. Pity them instead. God sometimes allows the wicked to prosper; but their prosperity is not to be envied, because they will pay for it with bitter tears. If the righteous are unfortunate, it is because they are going through a trial that will be credited to them if they bear it with courage. Remember the words of Jesus: ‘Blessed are those who suffer, for they shall be comforted.’”
927- Superfluity is certainly not indispensable to happiness, but the same does not apply to necessities. So isn’t the misfortune of those who are deprived of them real?
“They are truly unfortunate only when they lack what is necessary for their life and the health of their body. Such deprivation is perhaps the result of their own making, and they can only blame themselves for it. If it has resulted from the wrong of another, the responsibility would fall upon the one who has caused it.”
928- Through the special nature of our natural aptitudes, God obviously shows to each one of us our vocation in this world. Don’t many misfortunes come from the fact that we are not following the right vocation?
“That is true, and many times parents are the ones who, through pride or avarice, make their children deviate from the path outlined for them by nature, thereby compromising their happiness. They will be held responsible for having done so.”
– So would you consider it right if the son of a man of the upper classes became a cobbler, for instance, if that was his aptitude?
“You do not need to resort to absurdities and exaggerations. Civilization has its necessities. Why would the son of an upper class man become a cobbler if he can do other things? Individuals can always be useful according to their abilities if they are not applied to something they are not meant for. For instance, instead of a bad lawyer, they could perhaps become a skilled mechanic, etc.”
Operating outside their proper intellectual sphere is assuredly one of the most frequent causes of disappointment. Ineptitude in a chosen career is an inexhaustible source of reversals. Then, pride is added to the mix, which keeps individuals from resorting to a more humble profession, and they often regard suicide as the ultimate remedy for escaping from what they consider as humiliation. If a moral education had raised them above all of the prejudices of pride, they would never become destitute.
929- There are people who are destitute of all resources even when there is abundance all around them, and who do not see any other solution to their problem except death. What should they do? Should they allow themselves to die of hunger?
“People should never contemplate the idea of allowing themselves to die of hunger. They can always find the means to feed themselves if pride does not interpose itself between need and work. We frequently say that there are no dishonorable professions, and that it is not the job per se that is dishonorable – words we unfortunately apply more to others than to ourselves.”
930- It seems obvious that without the social prejudices that we allow to dominate us, we would always be able to find some sort of work that would enable us to make a living, even though in a lower position. Among those who have no such prejudices, however, or who put them aside, aren’t there those who are unable to provide for their needs as a result of illness or other causes independent of their will?
“In a society organized according to the law of Christ, no one should die of hunger.”
With a wise and provident societal organization, people would never lack what is necessary except by their own fault, which is often the result of their environment. When they practice the law of God, however, there will be a social order founded on justice and solidarity, and they themselves will be better individuals. (See no. 793)
931- Why are the suffering social classes more numerous than the fortunate ones?
“No one is perfectly happy. Those who are looked at as fortunate often hide poignant afflictions. Suffering is everywhere. However, in response to your thought I will say that what you call the suffering classes are more numerous because the earth is a place of expiation. When humans have finally transformed it into the habitat of the good and of good spirits, men and women will no longer be unhappy in this world. It will be a terrestrial paradise for them.”
932- Why do the wicked of this world usually exert a great influence over the good?
“Because the good are not assertive. The wicked are scheming and daring, whereas the good are timid. The moment they want to, the latter will prevail.”
933- If people are usually the artisans of their material sufferings, are they also the artisans of their mental sufferings?
“Even more so, because their material sufferings are sometimes independent of their will, while wounding pride, frustrating ambition, avaricious anxieties, envy, jealousy – in short, all the passions – comprise the torments of the soul.
“Envy and jealousy! Happy are they who do not know those two voracious worms! Wherever envy and jealousy exist, there can be no calm, no repose. For those who suffer from these maladies, the objects of their longings, their hatred and their spite appear before them like ghosts which do not leave them in peace and which pursue them even in their sleep. Envious and jealous individuals live in a continual feverish state. Is that a desirable situation? Can’t you understand that with such passions people create intentional punishments for themselves, and that the earth becomes a true hell for them?”
Many expressions symbolically represent the effects of different passions. We say: puffed up with pride, dying of envy, bursting with jealousy or spite, etc. Such pictures state the truth very well. Sometimes jealousy does not have a specific object. There are persons whose nature makes them jealous of anyone who is successful or who has risen above mediocrity, although they have no direct interest in the matter; they are jealous solely because they cannot reach the same level. Everything that seems to be above the common horizon offends them, and if they formed the majority of society, they would want everything to be brought down to their own level. In such cases jealousy is allied with mediocrity.
People are usually unhappy because of the importance they attach to the things of this world. Vanity, failed ambition and greed make them unhappy. If they would raise themselves above the narrow circle of the material life, if they would raise their thoughts toward the infinite – which is their destiny – the vicissitudes of human existence would seem petty and childish, like the sadness of a child who suffers the loss of a toy that represented his or her supreme happiness.
Those who only find happiness by satisfying their pride and crude material appetites are unhappy when they cannot satisfy them, whereas those who are frugal feel happy with what for others would comprise misfortune.
We are referring here to civilized people, because primitives have needs that are much more limited and thus they do not have the same reasons for envy and anxiety. Their way of looking at things is much different. In the civilized state, people think about and analyze their unhappiness, and hence they are more affected by it. On the other hand, they can also think about and analyze the means of consolation in the Christian sentiment that gives them the hope of a better future, and in Spiritism, which gives them the certainty of that future.
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