Moralizing effect of reincarnationLe Figaro of April 5th, 1868, the same newspaper that, two days before, published this definition of immortality: "Tale of nurses to reassure their clients," and the letter reported in the previous article contained the following piece:
“Composer E… firmly believes in the migration of souls. He recounts, in good faith, that in previous centuries he had been a Greek slave, then a famous Italian histrion and composer, but jealous and who prevented his colleagues from performing ...
- I am well punished today, he adds with philosophy, it is my turn to be sacrificed to others and to see my paths blocked!
This way of consoling oneself is well worth another.”
This idea is pure Spiritism, because not only it is the principle of the plurality of existences, but that of the atonement of the past, by the penalty of retaliation in successive existences, according to the maxim: "One is always punished by which one has sinned.” This composer explains his tribulations like so; he consoles himself for it by the thought that he only has what he deserves; the consequence of this thought is that, in order not to deserve it again, it is in his best interest to seek to improve himself; Isn't that better than blowing his brains out, which is what the thought of nothingness would logically lead him to?
This belief is therefore a powerful and quite natural cause of moralization; it is outstanding by the relevance and the material fact of the miseries which one endures, and for one not being able to explain them, one places them on the account of fatality or the injustice of God; it is understandable to everyone, to the child and to the most illiterate man, because it is neither abstract nor metaphysical; there is no one who does not understand that one can have already lived, and that if one has already lived, one can live again. Since it is not the body that can revive, it is the most obvious sanction of the existence of the soul, of its individuality and of its immortality.
It is therefore to popularize it that the efforts of all those who are seriously concerned with the improvement of the masses must be geared; it is for them a powerful lever with which they will do more than by the idea of devils and hell, that is laughed at today.
Since it is the order of the day, germinates on all sides, its logic becomes easily accepted, and it quite naturally opens a door to the Spiritists for the propagation of the Doctrine. Let them therefore stick to this idea, that nobody laughs at, accepted by the most serious thinkers, and they will do more proselytes by this route than by that of material manifestations. Considering that today it is the sensitive string, that is the one that must be played, and when it has vibrated, the rest will come by itself. To those who are frightened by the mere word Spiritism, do not speak of it; speak of the plurality of existences, of the many writers who advocate this idea; speak also, especially to the afflicted, as Victor Hugo does, of the presence around us of the loved ones we have lost; they will understand you, and later, they will be quite surprised for being unsuspectedly Spiritists.
