Family Advices
Your readers certainly remember the article published last September
under the title A Spiritist Family. The following communications are
very similar to those. In fact, these are advices given in a private meeting,
by an eminently superior and benevolent spirit. They are distinguished by
the kindness and sweetness of the style, by the profoundness of thoughts
and also by nuances of extreme compassion, appropriate to the age and
character of the persons to whom they were addressed. Mr. Rabache, a
businessman from Bordeaux, who served as an intermediary, has kindly
authorized their publication. We can only congratulate the mediums who
received similar communications. It is a demonstration that they have
happy sympathies in the invisible world.
Pechbusque Castle, November 1859
FIRST SESSION
The guardian spirit of the family was asked if he could give a few advices
to the members who were present. He responded:
Yes, may they have trust in God and seek enlightenment in the eternal
and immutable truths taught by the book of nature. It contains the
whole law of God and those who can read and understand only follow the
true path of wisdom. May they never neglect anything that will be seen
since everything has a teaching in itself and must elevate and approach
the soul to God through reason. Try to distinguish the good from the evil in everything that may harm intelligence: the former is to be practiced;
the latter is to be avoided. Before passing any judgment on anything may
they turn their thoughts to God who will then guide them to the good
path and WILL NEVER FAIL THEM!
SECOND SESSION
Good evening my children. If you love me then strive to enlighten yourselves.
Gather frequently with that thought and unite your thoughts. It is
an excellent way since we only exchange things that we believe are good to
you. We are ashamed of the bad things, thus they are kept in secret or they
are only communicated to those who we wish to turn into accomplices.
Good thoughts are distinguished from the bad ones because the former
can be unceremoniously transmitted to everyone whereas the latter could
not be communicated but to a few only. When a given thought crosses
your mind, in order to assess its value, ask yourself if you can make it
public without inconveniences and if it would not cause harm to anyone.
If your conscience authorizes you don’t be afraid for your thought is good.
Give good advices to one another and always think of the well-being of
the one to whom you give the advice and not yours. You will be rewarded
by the satisfaction that you will feel for being useful. The union of hearts
is the most fecund source of happiness. If a large number of people are
unhappy it is because they only seek happiness for themselves. Happiness
escapes them precisely because they think to be able to find it in selfishness
only. I say happiness and not fortune because up until now this has
only served as support to injustice and the objective of life is justice. Well,
if justice were practiced among human beings, the most fortunate one
would be the one who had done the highest number of good deeds. Then,
my children, if you want to become rich, do practice many good actions.
Never mind the worldly things. It is not the satisfaction of flesh that one
must seek but that of the soul. The former is ephemeral; the latter, eternal.
It is enough for now. Mediate about these advices and try to practice
them. Such is the path of salvation.
THIRD SESSION
Yes, my children, here I am. Have trust in God, who never abandons those
who do the good. What you consider wrong-doing frequently is so only with
respect to your prejudices. Also, sometimes the real evil comes from a discouragement
caused by a difficulty, which the calmness of spirit and thought
would have avoided. Thus, think and as I have already told you, report everything
to God. Whenever you experience any grief, far from giving in to
sadness, on the contrary, resist and make all efforts to triumph, thinking that
nothing is achieved without work and that very often success is followed by
difficulties. Invoke the support of the benevolent spirits. As they teach you,
they cannot do the good deeds in your place, nor obtain something to you
from God, since each one must conquer perfection to which we are all destined,
but they can inspire goodness in you, suggest a convenient attitude and
help you with their presence. They don’t manifest ostensively but privately.
Listen to the voice of your conscience, keeping in mind my preceding advices.
Trust in God, be calm and have courage.
FOURTH SESSION
Good evening my children. Yes, it is necessary to continue the sessions,
until a medium shows up replacing the one who is leaving us. His mission
as an initiator among you has been accomplished. Continue what you
have started, because you too shall one day serve to the propagation of
truth, which at this very moment is proclaimed all over the world by the
manifestations of the spirits. Be persuaded, my children, that what is generally
understood as spirit on Earth is only spirit to you. After the separation
of that spirit or soul from the dense body that surrounds it, as you see
it, there is no more body because your material eyes can no longer see it,
but it is still matter to those more elevated than that body. I will make a
very imperfect comparison to you, my children, but which may give you
an idea of the transformation that you improperly call death. Imagine a
caterpillar that you see every day. Once the time is over for its existence in such a state, the caterpillar becomes the chrysalis; spending sometime in
that state and then, when time is up, it leaves the cocoon behind, giving
rise to the butterfly which flies away. Well, the caterpillar, by leaving behind
her gross nature, represents human’s death. The butterfly represents
the soul, which rises up. The caterpillar drags on the ground, the butterfly
flies into the skies. It changed matter but it is still material. If the caterpillar
could think, it would not see the butterfly; however, it would have left
the rotten cocoon of the chrysalis. Thus, the body cannot see the soul, but
the soul, surrounded by matter, is conscious of its existence and even the
materialist sometimes feels it inside. Then, his pride precludes him from
agreeing and he remains with his science without belief, not elevating,
until the doubt arrives. Then, it is not the end, although there is a greater
in-fight, but it is only a matter of time, because my friends don’t you forget,
all children of God were created to achieve perfection. Fortunate are
those who waste no time in their journey. Eternity is made of two periods:
the trials, which could be called incubation, and the emergence or entry
into the real life, that you call the happiness of the elected ones.
FIFTH SESSION
My dear children, I see with satisfaction that you begin to think about the
advices I give you. I know that there is a lot to think about simultaneously,
given the current development of your intelligences. However, I must take
the present opportunity since in a short while it will no longer be available
to me and it was necessary to excite your imagination, suggesting
the means of moving on with the sessions until some of you may replace
the current medium. I hope that these few sessions, which I urge you to
consider carefully, may have been sufficient to awake in you the desire to
acquire a deeper knowledge about this vast field of investigation. As a rule
of thumb you should never try to simply satisfy a vain curiosity, but to
seek enlightenment and improvement. It is useless to try to establish the
difference between what I am going to teach you and what you already
know. Every time you receive teachings ask yourself if it is fair and if it does correspond to the requirements of your conscience and equity. When
the answer is positive don’t bother to find out if it is in agreement with
what you have been told before. What does it matter? What is important
is what is just, thoughtful and impartial. Anything that attends these conditions
comes from God. Obey a good conscience; only do useful things;
avoid everything that is useless, essentially not being a bad person, since
doing something useless is already bad. Avoid scandals, even if in the
path of your own betterment. There may be circumstances in which the
simple observation of your changes may produce a negative effect. That
is why, for example, someone who had been incarcerated in the darkness
of the dungeons cannot afford sudden daylight without harming their
eyes. Hence, may your progress never be a reason for investigation, unless
advised by wisdom. May you improve continually, and may this only be
seen when time is right. Those to whom I give this advice understand it,
without the need for a more explicit explanation. Their consciences will
tell them. Thus, courage and perseverance! These are the only rules of
success.
OBSERVATION: The last advice could not have general application.
It is evident that the spirit had a special objective, as he said it himself.
Otherwise we could be mistaken with respect to the meaning and reach
of his words.
