The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

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Earthly Sympathies and Antipathies

386. Could two beings, who have already known and loved each other, meet in another corporeal existence and recognize each other?
“They may not recognize each another, but they might be attracted to each other. The attraction stemming from the ties of a former life is often the cause of the most intimate unions. In your world, two people are drawn together by circumstances that seem to be chance, but are really due to the attraction of two spirits who are instinctively looking for each other in the crowd.”

a) Would it not be better for them to recognize one another?
“Not always. The recollection of past lives would have more disadvantages than you think. After death they will recognize one another, and then reminisce over the time they spent together.” (See no. 392)


387. Is sympathy always the result of past intimacy?
“No, two harmonious spirits naturally seek one another, without having been acquainted as human beings.”


388. Could the meetings that sometimes take place between two people be the effect of a sympathetic relationship rather than chance?
“There are bonds between intelligent beings that are unfamiliar to you. Magnetism is the driving force of this science that you will understand more clearly in the future.”


389. What is behind the instinctive repulsion sometimes felt between individuals who are meeting for the frst time?
“They are antipathetic spirits who can sense each other’s nature, and recognize one another without ever exchanging words.”


390. Is instinctive antipathy always the sign of a wicked nature?
“Two spirits are not necessarily wicked because they are not sympathetic. This hostility may spring from a difference in their way of thinking. As we ascend, these differences are erased and their antipathy disappears.”


391. Out of the two individuals, who initiates the feeling of antipathy, the better or worse Spirit?
“It may begin in both, but its causes and effects are different. A bad spirit feels antipathy against whoever is able to see through it, thus discerning its imperfections. On seeing such an individual for the frst time, it knows that it will receive their disapproval. Its repulsion transforms into hatred or jealousy, and inspires the desire to do harm to the target of its feelings. A good spirit feels repulsion for a bad spirit because it knows that it will not be understood, and that they do not share the same thoughts and ideas. As such a spirit is strong, it feels neither hatred nor jealousy towards the bad spirit, and is happy to avoid and pity it.”

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