The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

Back to the menu
Before the Return

330. Do spirits know when they are supposed to reincarnate?
“They have a sense of that return, as a blind person feels the heat of a fre he is approaching. They know that they reincarnate, as you know that you will die, but they do not know when the change will occur.” (See no. 166)


a) Is reincarnation therefore a necessity of spirit life, as death is a necessity of corporeal life?
“Surely, it is so.”


331. Do all spirits worry about their reincarnation?
“This depends on their degree of advancement. Some never give it a thought and know nothing about it. In some cases, the uncertainty of the future is an atonement in itself.”


332. Can a spirit hasten or delay its reincarnation?
“It may hasten it by a strong, faithful desire. As there are spineless and indifferent spirits, just like regular people. It may delay it if it shies away from the trial assigned to it, but it cannot do so freely. It suffers for this hesitation, just as a sick people suffer when they fail to use the remedy that can cure them.”


333. If a spirit is happy enough as an average, among errant spirits, could it stay in that state indefnitely?
“No, not indefnitely. Eventually the spirit feels the need to advance. All spirits have to evolve because it is their destiny.”


334. Is the union of a soul with a given body predestined, or is the choice of a body made at the last moment?
“The spirit is always assigned beforehand. Spirits choose the trials they will endure and request to reincarnate. God who sees and knows all things has foreseen that this soul would be united to that particular body.”


335. Can the spirit choose its body, or does it only choose the kind of life it is to bear for its trial?
“A spirit may also choose a body because the imperfections of this body are trials that will further its advancement, if it succeeds in overcoming the obstacles placed in its path. This choice is not always the spirit’s to make, but it can ask.”


a) Can a spirit refuse to enter a body chosen for it at the last moment before reincarnation?
“If it refuses, it suffers much more than one who does not attempt to go through a trial.”


336. Can a body about to be born not fnd a spirit willing to incarnate in it? “God can provide for any possibility. Every child who is to be born alive is always predestined to have a soul. Nothing is created without a design.”


337. Does God ever enforce the union of a soul with a given body?
“Sometimes it is imposed, in support of the different trials to be suffered by a spirit, especially when the latter is still too inferior to be able to make the choice for itself. As a form of atonement, a spirit may be forced to enter the body of a child that, due to its birth and the circumstances it will encounter in the world, it will serve for the spirit as a way of atonement.”


338. If several spirits ask to be incarnated in a body that is about to be born, how is the decision made?
“In such a case, God judges which spirit is best ft to fulfll the destiny appointed for the child. However, as I have already told you, the spirit is chosen before the moment in which it is to join the body.”


339. Is incarnation marked by confusion similar to what follows a spirit’s separation from the body?
“Much greater and longer. At death, the spirit is released from slavery. At birth, the spirit re-enters it.”


340. Is a spirit’s reincarnation a solemn moment? Does it accomplish this act as something serious and important for it?
“The spirit is like a traveler embarking on a dangerous journey, not knowing if it will drown in the waves beneath its vessel.”


Travelers know what dangers they are risking, but they do not know if they will die or not. The same applies to a spirit. It knows the kind of trials to which it will be submitted, but does not know if it will succumb. As the death of the body is a rebirth for the spirit, reincarnation is like death, or perhaps more accurately like exile and confnement. Spirits leave the spirit world for the physical world just as human beings leave the physical world for the spiritual world. A spirit knows that it is going to reincarnate, just as a human being knows that it will die, but they only become aware of this change at the moment it occurs. It is at this time, that the confusion produced by the change takes hold and lasts until the new existence is fully established. The start of reincarnation is agony for a spirit.


341. Does a spirit feel anxious regarding the probability of succeeding in the trials it is to go through in its new life before its incarnation?
“Yes, the spirit feels a great deal of anxiety since those trials will directly delay or hasten its advancement, depending on whether it fails or not.”


342. When a spirit is about to reincarnate, is it accompanied by spirit friends who come to send it off from the spirit world, in the same way that they welcome it when it returns?
“That depends on the world that the spirit inhabits. If it belongs to a world where affection reigns, spirits who love that spirit will be with it up to the last moment, encouraging it and often even following the spirit into its new life.”


343. When we see fgures in our dreams showing affection for us and we do not recognize them, are these our spirit friends who follow us into our physical life?
“Yes, in many cases they come to visit you, just as you may visit a prisoner in his or her cell.”

Related articles

Show related items