The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

1. How come a man who has the firm intention of killing himself rebels against the idea of being killed by someone else and who would defend himself against the attacks, on the very moment that he would accomplish his intents?

- Because man always fears death. The suicidal is always super excited, his mind is disturbed, thus he accomplishes his intent without fear or courage and, so as to say, without the knowledge of his action, whereas had he been able to reason we would not see so many suicides. Man’s instinct leads him to defend his own life and, during the elapsed time since another man approaches to kill him and the proper act he has always an instinctive repulsive reaction to death, leading him to repel that ghost, only terrifying to the guilty spirit. A man that commits suicide does not experience such a feeling since he is surrounded by spirits that push him towards that, who help him with his desires, inducing him to completely erase the memory of anything different from himself, like those of his parents, those who love him, and of another existence. At such a moment man is only selfishness.

2. Someone that is not satisfied with life but does not wish to commit suicide and wishes that his death may serve to something, will bear the culpability if seeking death in the battlefield, defending his country?

- Always! Man has to follow the impulse given to him. Whatever his career; whatever his lifestyle, he is always assisted by spirits that guide him, in spite of him. Thus, acting against their advice is a crime because they are there to drive us, always ready to help us whenever we want to act. However, if man wants to act by himself by leaving this life he is then abandoned. Later he shall recognize his fault when is obliged to restart in another existence.

Man has to be proven in order to elevate. By impeding his action and blocking his free will it would be like going against God and in this case the trials would become useless because the spirits would not make mistakes. The spirit was created simple and ignorant. In order to achieve the happy spheres it is necessary that the spirit elevates in knowledge and wisdom. It is only through adversity that he acquires an elevated heart and better understands God’s greatness.

3. One of the assistants observed that a contradiction was noticed between these last words from St. Louis and the preceding ones, when he said that man can be dragged to suicide by the spirits that encourage him to do that. In such a case he would be giving in to a foreign impulse.

There is no contradiction. When I said that man who is impelled to suicide was surrounded by spirits that solicit him to do that I was not referring to the good spirits that make all efforts to persuade him from doing that; this should be inferred. We all know that we have a guardian angel or, a familiar guide if you like. Well, man has his free- will; if despite the good advices given to him he perseveres in that criminal intent, he so does seconded by the frivolous and impure spirits that surround him and that feel happy to see that the incarnated spirit also lacks the courage to follow the advices from his good angel, and sometimes from the spirits of dead relatives that are around him, particularly in those circumstances.