11. PREFACE - From the moment of birth everyone has a good Spirit linked to them who constantly protects. At our side this Spirit carries out the mission of a father to his children which is that of conducting us along the path to goodness and progress, throughout the various tests of life. He feels happy when we respond to his solicitude and suffers when he sees us succumbing.
His name is not important because it is quite possible that it is not known an Earth. So then, we call him by the name of Guardian Angel or our good Spirit. We could also call him under the name of one of the superior Spirits with whom we feel a special sympathy.
Apart form this Guardian Angel, who is always a superior Spirit, we have other Spirit protectors, who although slightly less elevated, are just as good and generous. These are the Spirits of friends and relations, or even people we have not known in the present life. They help us with their advice and quite often intervene in the happenings of our life.
Sympathetic Spirits are those who are linked to us through certain similarities of taste and tendency. They may be either good or bad, according to the nature of those of our inclinations which have attracted them to us.
The seductive Spirits endeavour to turn us aside from the paths of goodness by suggesting bad thoughts to us. They take advantage of all our weaknesses, as if these were so many open doors which give them access to our soul. Some of them hold on to us as if we were their prey, but they withdraw when they recognise themselves impotent to fight against our will.
In the form of our Guardian Angel, God has given us a principal and superior guide and in the form of protecting and family Spirits secondary guides, but it is a mistake to believe that inevitably we have a bad element at our side to counter-balance the good influences we receive from them. The evil Spirits seek us voluntarily as long as they can dominate us by reason of our weakness or our negligence in following the inspirations of the good Spirits, so it is ourselves who attract them. The result is we are never without the assistance of good Spirits, and the withdrawal of the bad Spirits depends entirely on ourselves. Due to his imperfections, Man is the primary cause of all the miseries which afflict him and is, in most cases, his own bad genius (See chapter 5, item 4).
A prayer to Guardian Angels and protecting Spirits should have as its objective the solicitation of their intercession with God, to ask for strength to resist evil suggestions and to ask for help in all of life's contingencies.
