189. Does the spirit enjoy the plenitude of his faculties from the beginning of his formation?

"No; for the spirit, like the man, has his infancy. Spirits at their origin have only an instinctive existence, and have scarcely any consciousness of themselves or of their acts; it is only little by little that their intelligence is developed."

190. What is the state of the soul at its first incarnation?

"A state analogous to that of infancy, considered in its relation to a human life. Its intelligence is only beginning to unfold itself; it may be said to be essaying to live."

191. Are the souls of our savages souls in a state of infancy?

"Of relative infancy; but they are souls that have already accomplished a certain amount of development, for they have passions."

– Passions, then, are a sign of development?

"Of development, yes, but not of perfection. They are a sign of activity, and of the consciousness of the me; while, on the contrary, in the primitive state of the soul, intelligence and vitality exist only as germs."

The life of a spirit in his totality goes through successive phases similar to those of a corporeal lifetime. He passes gradually from the embryonic state to that of infancy, and arrives, through a succession of periods, at the adult state, which is that of his perfection, with this difference, however, that it is not subject either to decrepitude or to decline, like the corporeal life; that the life of a spirit, though it has had a beginning, will have no end; that he takes what appears from our point of view to be an immense length of time in passing from the state of spirit-infancy to the attainment of his complete development; and that he accomplishes this progression, not in one and the same sphere, but by passing through different worlds. The life of a spirit is thus composed of a series of corporeal existences, each of which affords him an opportunity of progress; as each of his corporeal existences is composed of a series of days, in each of which he acquires a new increment of experience and of knowledge. But just as in a human lifetime there are days which bear no fruit, so in the life of a spirit there are corporeal existences which are barren of profitable result, because he has failed to make a right use of them.

192. Is it possible for us, by leading a perfect life in our present existence, to overleap all the intervening steps of the ascent, and thus to arrive at the state of pure spirits, without passing through the intermediate degrees?

"No; for what a man imagines to be perfect is very far from perfection; there are qualities which are entirely unknown to him, and which he could not now be made to comprehend. He may be as perfect as it is possible for his terrestrial nature to be; but he will still be very far from the true and absolute perfection. It is just as with the child, who, however precocious he may be, must necessarily pass through youth to reach adult life; or as the sick man, who must pass through convalescence before arriving at the complete recovery of his health. And besides, a spirit must advance in knowledge as well as in morality; if he have advanced in only one of these directions, he will have to advance equally in the other, in order to reach the top of the ladder of perfection. But it is none the less certain that the more a man advances in his present life the shorter and the less painful will be the trials he will have to undergo in his subsequent existences."

– Can a man, at least, insure for himself, after his present life, a future existence less full of bitterness than this one?

"Yes, undoubtedly, he can abridge the length and the difficulties of the road. It is only he who does not care to advance that remains always at the same point."

193. Can a man in his new existences descend to a lower point than that which he has already reached?

"As regards his social position, yes; but not as regards his degree of progress as a spirit."

194. Can the soul of a good man, in a new incarnation, animate the body of a scoundrel?

"No; because a spirit cannot degenerate."

– Can the soul of a bad man become the soul of a good man?

"Yes, if he have repented; and, in that case, his new incarnation in the reward of his efforts at amendment."

The line of march of all spirits is always progressive, never retrograde. They raise themselves gradually in the hierarchy of existence they never descend from the rank at which they have once arrived. In the course of their different corporeal existences they may descend in rank as men, but not as spirits. Thus the soul of one who has been at the pinnacle of earthly power may, in a subsequent incarnation, animate the humblest day-labourer, and vice versa; for the elevation of ranks among men is often in the inverse ratio of that of the moral sentiments. Herod was a king, and Jesus, a carpenter.

195. Might not the certainty of being able to improve one’s self in a future existence lead some persons to persist in evil courses, through knowing that they will always be able to amend at some later period?

"He who could make such a calculation would have no real belief in anything; and such an one would not be any more restrained by the idea of incurring eternal punishment, because his reason would reject that idea, which leads to every sort of unbelief. An imperfect spirit, it is true, might reason in that way during his corporeal life; but when he is freed from his material body, he thinks very differently; for he soon perceives that he has made a great mistake in his calculations, and this perception causes him to carry an opposite sentiment into his next incarnation. It is thus that progress is accomplished; and it is thus also that you have upon the earth some men who are farther advanced than others, because some possess experience that the others have not yet acquired, but that will be gradually acquired by them. It depends upon each spirit to hasten his own advancement or to retard it indefinitely."

The man who has an unsatisfactory position desires to change it as soon as possible. He who is convinced that the tribulations of the present life are the consequences of his own imperfections will seek to insure for himself a new existence of a less painful character; and this conviction will draw him away from the wrong road much more effectually than the threat of eternal flames, which he does not believe in.

196. As spirits can only be ameliorated by undergoing the tribulations of corporeal existence, it would seem to follow that the material life is a sort of sieve or strainer, by which the beings of the spirit-world are obliged to pass in order to arrive at perfection?

"Yes; that is the case. They improve themselves under the trials of corporeal life by avoiding evil, and by practising what is good. But it is only through many successive incarnations or purifications that they succeed, after a lapse of time which is longer or shorter according to the amount of effort put forth by them, in reaching the goal towards which they tend."

– Is it the body that influences the spirit for its amelioration, or is it the spirit that influences the body?

"Your spirit is everything; your body is a garment that rots, and nothing more."

A material image of the various degrees of purification of the soul is furnished by the juice of the grape. It contains the liquid called spirit or alcohol, but weakened by the presence of various foreign elements which change its nature, so that it is only brought to a state of absolute purity after several distillations, at each of which it is cleared of some portion of its impurity. The still represents the corporeal body into which the spirit enters for its purification; the foreign elements represent the imperfections from which the perispirit is gradually freed, in proportion as the spirit approaches the state of relative perfection.