936. What effect does the inconsolable sorrow of survivors have upon spirits who are the object of that sorrow?
“A spirit is touched by the memory and regrets of those it has loved. However, persistent and unreasonable sorrow is painful because, in excessive grief it sees a lack of faith in the future and confidence in God. Consequently, this ends up being an obstacle to advancement and perhaps even to their reunion.”
For a spirit who is happier than it was on Earth, regretting the change in life is to regret being happy. Let us take the example of two friends who are prisoners locked up in the same prison. Both of them will be free one day, but one is released before the other. Would it be kind on the part of the one who remains to regret that the other leaves sooner? Would there not be more selfishness than affection when one wants another to remain captive and suffering in the same circumstance as oneself? The same is true with two individuals who love one another on Earth. If one leaves first, the other should rejoice while patiently awaiting for his or her own freedom.
We may illustrate this subject by means of another comparison. You have a friend whose circumstances result in a painful existence although he or she remains physically close to you. Thus, your friend’s health or interests require a change to another country, where he or she will be better off in every respect. However, your friend will no longer be near you at every moment, but will still keep contact with you. The separation between you will only be in your daily life. Should you grieve for the loss of physical contact considering it is for your friend’s own good? Spiritism gives us clear proof of a future life and its presence around us as well as the continued affection of people we loved, and the relationships we are able to keep.
Spiritism offers us the greatest consolation for the most painful of human sorrows. Spiritism eliminates loneliness and abandonment because friends, with whom one can hold affectionate conversation, always surround the most isolated of human beings.
We are often impatient with the trials and tribulations of life. They seem so intolerable that we sometimes believe that we cannot endure them. Yet, if we face them with courage, and if we are able to silence our complaints, we will rejoice in the remembrance of the experience when we have finished our human existence. The same way that patient rejoices when they recover after completing a painful course of treatment that has cured the disease.
