By Brian Foster

Abstract

Many religions believe in reincarnation, but why does Spiritism believe in it? Spiritism considers the early Christians also professed knowledge about our souls reincarnating, but this belief dissipated over the centuries after Christ. Spiritism renews the teachings of Christ and supplements them with the revelations promised to us.



Introduction

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Consoler to help you and be with you forever…the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” New Testament John 14: 15-17

“But the Consoler, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.“ New Testament John 14: 26

What did the Consoler actually do? What did the Spirit of Truth contribute? Spiritism states that Allan Kardec was the Codifier, who presented, via mediums throughout Europe, the Spirit of Truth (Consoler) and that in the five books that Allan Kardec assembled, he revealed the extent of the Spirit world, who is God and Jesus, why we are here on earth, how we should live and the doctrine to follow. That is all. Within those books are the reasons why we reincarnate.

If one looks at the vast literature written about reincarnation, covering our past lives, childhood memories of past lives, hypnosis revealing that some people lived on other planets, there seems to be many disjointed facets. While in truth, all are correct and all are exactly according to the Doctrine of Spiritism. To understand the sweeping field of literature out in the world today, one should review the concept of reincarnation presented by Spiritism, and then all becomes clear. Spiritism provides the context, the rules, the process and the endgame for our multiple lives.

Reincarnation

The Doctrine of Spiritism maintains that the goal of God and Jesus for us is for all of their children to become pure spirits. Each of us, through our own efforts, slowly advances toward the perfection of God. We will never reach the goal of absolute perfection, but we should come as close to pure love and harmony within the universe as possible. We are all immortal spirits; therefore we have until the end of time for our journey.

An example of a pure spirit is Jesus. One who truly loves us with all of his fiber, who understands the trials we must endure, our failings, our weaknesses, our petty jealousies, yet even still radiantly smiles down upon us, knowing that someday we shall become wholly integrated within the loving universe and take our places as a force for good.

The central question is; how do we become pure? The answer lies within The Spirits Book;

166. How can the soul that has not attained to perfection during the corporeal life complete the work of purification?

“By undergoing the trial of a new existence”

– How does the soul accomplish this new existence? Is it through it transformation as a spirit?

“The soul, in purifying itself, undoubtedly undergoes a transformation; but, in order to effect this transformation, it needs the trial of corporeal life”

– The soul has then, many corporeal existences?

“Yes; we all have many such existences. Those who maintain the contrary wish to keep you in the same ignorance in which they are themselves.”

– It would seem to results from this statement that the soul, after having quitted one body, takes another one; in other words, that it reincarnates itself in a new body. Is it thus that this statement is to be understood?

“Evidently so.”[1]

Therefore, to ascend we must accept the task of being reborn in a physical body. There are lessons that only can be learned through a bodily existence. But why do we need to reincarnate multiple times?

The Need for Multiple Lives

Multiple lives are required, because one life doesn’t supply the lessons required for us to ascend. The spirit Andre Luiz, who wrote many books, which were psychographed by Francisco C. Xavier, goes into great depth about many aspects of the spirit realm. In one book, he explores the need for us to be reborn over and over again. Andre Luiz was assigned to a group of spirits who assisted people leaving their earthly life in the book, Workers of the Life Eternal, where he underwent numerous experiences at people’s bedsides and witnessed the dramas that swirled around them. He weighs the frequent scenes and stories of people struggling to depart and comes to the conclusion;

“Studying cases of death had enriched my knowledge in the field of mental science. The spirit, (eternal in essence) makes use of matter (transitory in its associations) as didactic material that evolves more and more in the spirit’s never ending course of experience toward integration within the Supreme Divinity.”[2]

What does Andre mean by didactic material in this instance? One of the definitions of didactic is “Teaching or intended to teach a moral lesson.”[3] Therefore as we continue learning in the Spirit world and travel through various physical trials on earth we accumulate moral lessons that in turn influence our physical bodies and the structure of our brain, as we are reborn. Not only is our intellectual being as Spirits is important, but the physical makeup of our human form is vital for our involvement on our planet and to our eventual elevation as Spirits.

Given all that he had seen, Andre fully realizes the need for our multiple attempts at learning in our corporeal bodies, “Hence the reasons for the complex activities of the evolutionary road, the countless diversities, the multiplicity of social positions, the degrees of abilities and the levels of intelligence on the various planes of life.”[4] What a wonderful revelation! We all go through periods of high social positions, living life with riches, and being the smartest person in the room. Although, we also live in the opposite positions. Truly, this knowledge must cause us all to be humble.

Being trapped in a material body must afford us the opportunity to learn what is not possible to apprehend in the spirit world. While certainly, one can gather intellectual knowledge, the building of our emotions, of faith, charity, honor and love are rooted in the pain and suffering we are exposed to in the physical world. The Spirits Book backs up this thesis, in the secondary question to question 175;

– Would it not be happier to remain as a spirit?

“No, no! For we should remain stationary; and we want to advance towards God.”[5]

For those who believe we only need one physical life to be pure, it is as if we wanted to be the President of a large company without ever working any other job. Of course we must start in the mail room and work our way up in various positions to fully comprehend how things get done and how to survive within the culture of the organization. No matter how pious we could have started out as a new spirit, we would still need the required know-how to gain our elevation. Only through rigorous trials do we have the right mixture of beliefs and knowledge to reincarnate with good prospects of success and to be a valued worker in the Spirit realm.

Multiple Lives – Where?

Hence, we do need to accumulate a mountain of instances and encounters from all social, cultural, and physical environments. We are on task to build a strong foundation, upon which we can amass ever more knowledge and possess the wisdom to utilize it appropriately. So where do we begin to lay the base for our future? The answer, once again, lies in The Spirits Book;

172. Do we accomplish all our different corporeal existences upon this earth?

“Not all of them, for those existences take place in many different worlds. The world in which you now are is neither the first nor the last of these, but is one of those that are the most material, and the furthest removed from perfection.”

173. Does the soul, at each new corporeal existence pass from one world to another or can it accomplish several existences on the same globe?

“It may live many times on the same globe, if it be not sufficiently advanced to pass into a higher one.”

– We may, then, re-appear several times upon the earth?

“Certainly.”

– Can we come back to it after having lived in other worlds?”

“Assuredly you can; you may already have lived elsewhere as upon the earth.”[6]

The answers imply that we live on whatever worlds that we are required to do so, in order to gather the required curriculum. We are all interstellar travelers, but alas, our memories of our journeys are hidden from most of us. We regain those thoughts and remembrances when we return to the spirit world.

A more detailed explanation of the process of reincarnation is in my book, The Case for Reincarnation – Your Path to Perfection.

Where are we heading?

Where does all of this lead to? Are we locked into paying for our wrongs and learning lessons the hard way forever? No, for at some time in our future existence, when we have built a wall of experiences that enable us to gather more knowledge and retain our humbleness and capacity to love, without any urge to act superior. Our next step is to be promoted to a world of regeneration.

The worlds of regeneration are described in Allan Kardec’s, The Gospel According to Spiritism”;

“Regenerative worlds serve as a transition between worlds of expiation and worlds of bliss. The repentant soul finds peace and repose on them, and ends up purifying itself. Of course, on such worlds humans are still subject to the laws that govern matter; their humanity still experiences your sensations and desires but is free of the muddled passions that enslave you; on regenerative worlds there is no longer the pride that renders your heart silent, the envy that tortures it and the hatred that suffocates it. The word love is written on every brow, a perfect equity governs social relationships, and all acknowledge God, endeavoring to evolve toward him by following his laws.”[7]

Regenerative worlds are but one stop, there are more advance worlds that await us as we climb up the ladder to perfection. Most certainly, the description of a regenerative world is one of an earthly paradise to us. Where, while we still must reincarnate, our lives are not as brutish, full of drama that tears away at our quest to be calm. A world where one can be happy and free to focus on the education that we agreed to before being reborn.

As one can see, there is no shortcut. No payment can be made to the right person to skip our trials. After all, a child can’t become an adult in an instant, even though that child may be an extraordinary genius, the child must still grow emotionally so they could focus their intellectual energies at the right target. To all of us here, reading, at this very moment, we are all the same. The variations that we perceive to be so great are but minuscule to the spirit world. We are but a mass of unruly students, learning how to behave in an adult’s world.

Author:

Brian Foster has a BSCS degree and a MBA. He has worked in R&D for medical device corporations and in IT for large financial institutions. Brian Foster has a blog at http://www.nwspiritism.com.

Works Cited

Dictionary.com. (2014, 03 02). Dictionary Reference. Retrieved from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/didactic

Kardec, A. (2008). The Gospel According to Spiritism. Brasilia (DF): International Spiritist Council.

Kardec, A. (2010). The Spirits Book. Guildford, UK: White Crow Books.

Xavier, F. C. (2008). Workers of the Life Eternal. Brasilia (DF) – Brazil: International Spiritist Council.

[1] Kardec, A., The Spirits Book, Guildford, UK, White Crow Books, Chap. 4, ques. 166, p. 141

[2] XAVIER, Francisco C. Workers of the Lifer Eternal, Brasilia (DF),EDICEI, p. 365

[3] dictionary.reference.com/browse/didactic

[4] XAVIER, Francisco C. Workers of the Lifer Eternal, Brasilia (DF), EDICEI, p. 365

[5] Kardec, A., The Spirits Book, Guildford, UK, White Crow Books, Chap. 4, ques. 175, p. 144

[6] Kardec, A., The Spirits Book, Guildford, UK, White Crow Books, Chap. 4, ques. 172-173, pp. 143-144

[7] Kardec, A., The Gospel According to Spiritism, Brasilia (DF), EDICEI, Chap. 3, Sect. 17, p. 76