913- Of all the vices, which may we regard as the root?
“We have already told you many times: selfishness. All evil derives from it. Study all the vices and you will see that selfishness is at the bottom of them all. As much as you may struggle against them, you will never uproot them as long as you have not destroyed their cause. Let all your efforts tend toward that end, because selfishness is the true scourge of society. Those in this life who want to approach moral perfection must uproot from their heart every sentiment of selfishness, for selfishness is incompatible with justice, love and charity; it neutralizes all other qualities.”
914- Since selfishness is based on personal interests, it seems difficult to entirely uproot it from the human heart. Will we ever be able to do so?
“As humans become enlightened about spiritual things, they attach less value to material things. Next, it is necessary to reform the human institutions that entertain and excite the passions. This depends on education.”
915- Since selfishness is inherent to the human species, won’t it always be a permanent obstacle to the reign of absolute goodness upon the earth?
“It is certain that selfishness is your greatest evil, but it is connected to the unpurified nature of the spirits incarnated on the earth, and not to the human species per se. Upon purifying themselves over successive incarnations, spirits get rid of selfishness just as they get rid of other impurities. On the earth, aren’t there persons who are divested of selfishness, and who practice charity? They exist in greater numbers than you might think, but you know few of them because virtue does not seek to reveal itself in broad daylight. If there is one, why wouldn’t there be ten? If there are ten, why wouldn’t there be a thousand, and so on?”
916- Far from decreasing, selfishness increases with civilization, which seems to excite and entertain it. How can the cause destroy the effect?
“The greater the evil, the more heinous it becomes. It has been necessary for selfishness to produce much evil in order to make you understand the need to uproot it. When human beings have been freed from the selfishness that dominates them, they will live as brothers and sisters. They will not do evil to one another and will mutually help one another through the fraternal sentiment of solidarity. The strong will then be the support and not the oppressor of the weak, and no longer will anyone lack what is needed because all will practice the law of justice. This is the kingdom of the good that the Spirits are in charge of preparing.” (See no. 784)
917- What is the means for destroying selfishness?
“Of all human imperfections, the most difficult to uproot is selfishness because it is connected to the influence of matter, from which human beings, still so close to their origin, cannot free themselves. Everything concurs to sustain its influence: your laws, your social organizations and your education. Selfishness will be weakened with the predominance of the moral life over the material life, and especially with the understanding that Spiritism gives you concerning your true future state, which is no longer distorted by allegorical fictions. When it is well understood and identified with customs and beliefs, Spiritism will transform habits, usages and social relations. Selfishness is founded upon the importance of the personality. When well understood, I repeat, Spiritism enables you to see things from such an evolved point of view that the sentiment of the personality somehow disappears before the Doctrine’s immensity. Upon destroying this self-importance and showing its real nature, Spiritism necessarily combats selfishness.
“It is the shock that humans experience from the selfishness of others that usually makes them selfish in turn because they feel the need to put themselves on the defensive. Seeing that others think only of themselves and not of them, they are in turn led to be concerned about themselves more than about others. Let the principle of charity and fraternity be the basis of social institutions and the legal relations between nations and individuals, and all will think less of themselves when they see that others are doing so too; thus, they will undergo the moralizing influence of example and contact. In the light of the present overflowing of selfishness, true virtue is needed to sacrifice one’s own personality for the sake of others, who generally do not recognize it. It is to those, above all, who possess this virtue that the Kingdom of Heaven is opened. For them, especially, is reserved the bliss of the elect, because I can truly tell you that on the day of judgment, those who have only thought of themselves will be cast aside and will suffer abandonment.” (See no. 785)
Fenelon
Laudable efforts have doubtlessly been made to help humankind advance. Good sentiments are encouraged, stimulated and honored today more than at any other time, and yet the devouring worm of selfishness continues to be the scourge of society. It is a true evil that is scattered throughout the world and of which everyone is more or less a victim. Therefore, it is necessary to fight it as if we were fighting an epidemic. To this end we must proceed as physicians do: go back to the cause. Let us seek out in every structure of the social organization – from the family to nations, from the hovel to the palace – all the causes, all the patent or hidden influences that excite, maintain and develop the sentiment of selfishness. Once the causes are known, the remedy will present itself. We will only need to fight them, if not completely, then at least partly, and little by little the poison will be drawn out. The cure may take a long time because the causes are numerous, but it is not impossible. Moreover, we cannot reach that point unless we attack the evil at its roots; that is, through education. Not the education that aims only to educate people, however; rather, the education that also aims to make them moral individuals. When it is rightly understood, education will be the key to moral progress. When the art of managing characters is understood as well as the art of managing intelligences, we will be able to correct characters in the same way that we straighten new plants. However, this art requires much tact, much experience and profound observation. It is a serious error to believe that it is enough to simply have knowledge in order to apply it advantageously. Whoever has observed the children of the wealthy as well as of the poor from the moment of their birth, noticing all the harmful influences that act on them as a result of the weakness, ignorance and negligence of those who guide them, and also noticing how often the means employed to moralize them usually fail, will not be surprised to find so much confusion in the world. Let efforts be made toward morality as much as toward intelligence and we will see that if there are obstinate natures, there are also, in a greater number than you might think, those who require only good cultivation in order to yield good fruit. (See no. 872)
People want to be content, and this sentiment is in their very nature. That is why they work without ceasing to improve their situation on earth, and to seek out the causes of their ills in order to cure them. When they rightly understand that selfishness is one of those causes; that it engenders the pride, ambition, cupidity, envy, hatred and jealousy of which they are at every moment the victim; that it brings trouble into all social relations, provokes dissension and destroys trust, obligating them to constantly maintain a defensive attitude towards their neighbor; that it engenders a sentiment that converts friend into foe, then they will also understand that this vice is incompatible with their own happiness. We would add that it is incompatible with their own safety as well. Thus, the more they suffer as a result of it, the more they will feel the need to fight it as they would a plague, harmful animals and all other scourges. They will be compelled to do so out of their own self-interest. (See no. 784)
Selfishness is the source of all vices, as charity is the source of all virtues. Destroying the former and developing the latter should be the aim of all people’s efforts if they wish to ensure their happiness in this world as well as in the future.
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