Mutual Destruction of Living BeingsThe destruction of living creatures by one another is one of the laws of nature that, at first sight, seems not to reconcile much with the goodness of God. The question is why would have God established the need for one to destroy the other to be fed as a law. To the one that only sees matter that limits one’s vision to present life it seesm, in fact, an imperfection in the divine work and from that the nonbelievers conclude that since God is not perfect, there is no God. The reason for that is the fact that they judge God’s perfection from their point of view. Their own judgment is the measure of their wisdom, considering that God could not do better than they would do themselves. Since their short sight does not allow them to see the whole, they do not understand that a real good may derive from an apparent harm. It is only the knowledge of the spiritual principle, considered in its true essence, and the great law of unity that constitutes the harmony of creation, that can give mankind the key to that mystery, showing the providential wisdom and harmony where only anomaly and contradiction were seen. It happens to this truth the same that happens to many others for mankind is not ready to probe certain depths but when the Spirit reaches a sufficient level of maturity.
True life of both, man and animal, is not more in the corporeal envelope than on the clothes. It is in the intelligent principle that preexists and outlives the body. That principle needs the body to develop through work that must be realized on the brute matter. The body wears out in the process but not the Spirit; on the contrary it leaves the body stronger, more lucid and capable. What does it matter then if the Spirit changes more or less its envelope? It does not affect the fact that it is still Spirit. It is absolutely like a person that would change the wardrobe a hundred times in one year. The person would still remain the same. Through the unstoppable spectacle of destruction God teaches humanity the little importance of the material envelope and draws the attention to the idea of the spiritual life, persuading mankind to desire it as a compensation. Some will ask if God could not reach the same result by other means, not submitting the living creatures to a mutual destruction. Very smart the one that wanted to penetrate the mysteries of God’s designs! If everything is wisdom in God’s work we must suppose that such wisdom is not more absent in this point than on the others. We should blame our lack of advancement for not understanding it. However, we can try to find the reason for that by following this principle: God must be infinitely just and wise. Let us then seek justice and wisdom in everything. A first utility that stems out of such destruction is this purely physical utility: organic bodies can only feed out of organic matter, the only capable of providing the necessary nutrients to its transformation. Since the bodies, instruments of action of the intelligent principle, must necessarily be renovated, the Providence makes them serve their mutual maintenance. That is why the beings feed one another, that is, that the body is fed by the body. The Spirit, however, is not annihilated or altered. It only loses its envelope.
The struggle is necessary to the development of the Spirit because it is through the struggle that the Spirit exercises the faculties. The one that attacks to find its food as well as the one that defends itself to preserve life exercise their astuteness and intelligence and consequently increasing their intellectual strengths. One of the two falls. But what was in reality taken by the stronger or more capable from the weaker one? The garment of flesh, nothing else. The outliving Spirit will take another one later.
With the inferior beings of creation where there is no moral sense and intelligence is not even in an instinctive state, the only drive of the struggle is the satisfaction of a material need. Feeding is one of the most pressing material needs. Therefore they only fight for their survival or defend a prey since they could not have a more elevated stimulus. It is in that phase that the soul expands and prepares for life. When it reaches the level of maturity necessary to its transformation it receives new skills from God: the free-will and the moral sense, in a word a divine flame that provides the Spirit with new horizons with the new perceptions. But the new moral faculties only develop gradually for nothing is sudden in nature; there is a transition period in which mankind can hardly be distinguished from the brute. In the first ages the animal instinct prevails and the struggle is still driven by the satisfaction of material needs. Later on there is a balance between the animal instinct and moral feeling; people then fight not only to feed themselves but also to satisfy their ambition, pride and the need to dominate. The need for destruction is no longer there; it becomes hateful and fades away. Blood becomes a horror. The struggle, however, is always necessary to the development of the Spirit because, even at that stage that is apparently the top, the Spirit is far from perfect; it is only at the price of a lot of activity that the Spirit acquires knowledge and experience and leaves behind the last vestiges of animality. The fight that was brutal and bloody becomes purely intellectual. People then fight against difficulties rather than their fellow human beings.
Note: As it can be seen, this explanation is related to the serious problem of animals’ future. We will soon treat this matter in depth because it seems to us that it has been sufficiently elaborated and we believe that it can be, in principle, considered resolved at this stage by the agreement of the teachings.
