Three conditions necessary for the Elimination
of a Fault
- Since the Justice of the Creator is Infinite,
through the Law of Cause and Effect, an exact accounting is kept for
each soul, of all the good and all the wrongdoing done in the
material or spirit worlds. No evil deed, no evil thought, however
slight, fails to produce it own appropriate consequence.
- On the other hand, no good deed, however minute; no right feeling,
however minor; no virtuous aspiration, however faint, is ever
overlooked and provides for it proper and good recompense.
- Every misdeed shall receive its just and appropriate punishment,
and, every good deed shall receive its just and appropriate reward,
exactly proportioned, in either case of the action, of which it is
the consequence.
- Each spirit is the sole arbiter of its own condition. We are
personally responsible for our own conduct. Our true intentions and
degree of culpability are at times more important in this matter
then our specific actions.
- In order to progress and get away from wrongdoing, we must analyze
what must be done to eliminate wrongdoing or faults. The three
conditions, which are necessary for the elimination of a fault, are:
repentance, expiation, and reparation. All these are involved in the
process of reincarnation.
- Repentance is the first step towards reformation as it paves the
way to rehabilitation. But, repentance alone is not enough to
deliver the wrongdoer from the consequences of their wrongdoing. In
order to accomplish this, expiation and reparation are also
necessary.
- Expiation is when a spirit suffers through the wrongdoing which it
has committed in order that, its attention being concentrated on the
consequences of that wrongdoing, it may better understand its
disastrous nature, and be led to cure itself of the imperfection to
which the wrongdoing was due. Expiation consists in the sufferings,
both physical and moral, that are the direct result of a spirit’s
wrongdoing, until all traces of the wrongdoing have been effaced.
This explains the painful and horrible circumstances in which we
sometimes find ourselves which are the direct result of our own
wrongdoing.
- Reparation is returning good to those whom we have wronged. It is
only through reparation that we can annul the suffering and the
effects of our wrongdoing. One who does not make reparation in a
given life for the wrongs they have done in that life, will be
brought again, in a new earthly existence, into contact with the
parties they have wronged in the former life, under conditions they
will have chosen beforehand, and which have been contrived in such a
way as to give them the opportunity of proving their devotion to
them, and of enabling them to do as much good to them as they
formerly did them harm.
- Expiation and reparation annuls the cause and consequences of the
wrongdoing. Repentance (just being sorry for our wrongdoing) is not
enough to do this.
- There are also faults that we may be guilty of but do not cause
any direct personal harm to other people. In these cases, the
reparation of a fault is accomplished in another incarnation by
doing what they ought to have done, but did not do so, in a former
one, whether by discharging duties which they neglected or did not
see they were incumbent to do, or by fulfilling missions which they
failed to fulfill in that former life, or by practicing the virtues
which are the opposites of the vices in which they indulged. This
last means being humble when one was prideful; kindly, if one was
unkind; hardworking, if one was idle; being helpful, if one was
useless; setting a good example where one had set a bad one; and so
on. It is in this that a spirit progresses by turning to profitable
account the experience and lessons of past existences.
- Whatever may be a spirit’s inferiority or perversity, the Creator
never abandons it. Every spirit has its guardian spirit who watches
over it, takes note of every movement of its soul, and endeavors to
awaken in its mind good thoughts and the desire to progress and to
make reparation, in a new existence, for any wrongdoing committed.
We are never alone in our sufferings.
- A spirit must work out its own amelioration through the action of
its own will. It does right, or does wrong of free choice. Suffering
due to wrongdoing is temporary, subordinate to repentance,
expiation, and reparation which is dependent on the freewill of the
wrongdoer, and are the moral medicines, so to speak, which will cure
all moral maladies.
- The Creator has ordained that happiness (upon reaching the state
of a purified spirit) shall be the result of effort, and not of
favor, in order that each may obtain it as the result and the reward
of their own individual labors. Each is free to labor diligently or
do nothing, for its own advancement. Those who work hard and
quickly, gain their wages sooner, those who misemploy their energies
or lose time, are longer in gaining their reward but have only
themselves to blame.
- Suffering is a condition of imperfection. Every one has the power
of freeing themselves from imperfections through the exertion of
their will; therefore, every one is able to avoid the sufferings,
which are the consequences of those imperfections, and to ensure
their future happiness. |