893. Which is the most meritorious of all the virtues?

"All virtues are meritorious, for all of them are signs of progress on the upward road. There is virtue in every act of voluntary resistance to the seductive influence of evil tendencies; but the sublimity of virtue consists in the sacrifice of self-interest to the good of others. The highest of all virtues is that which takes the form of the widest and most disinterested kindness."

894. There are persons who do good from a spontaneous impulse, without having to overcome any opposite feeling; is there as much merit in their action as in that of others who, in doing good, have to struggle with their own nature, and to surmount an opposing impulse?

"Those who have no longer to struggle against selfishness are those who have already accomplished a certain amount of progress. They have struggled and triumphed in the past, and their generosity, therefore, no longer costs them any effort. To do good seems to them to be perfectly natural, because they have acquired the habit of kindness. They should be honoured as veterans, who have won their grades on the field of battle.

"As you are still far from perfection, such persons strike you with astonishment, because their action contrasts so strongly with that of the rest of mankind, and you admire it in proportion to its rarity; but you must know that what is the exception in your world is the rule in worlds of more advanced degree. In those worlds goodness is everywhere spontaneous, because they are inhabited only by good spirits, among whom even an evil intention would be considered as an exceptional monstrosity. It is this general prevalence of goodness that constitutes the happiness of those worlds; it will be the same in your earth when the human race shall have been transformed, and shall rightly comprehend and practise the law of charity."

895. Besides the defects and vices in regard to which no one can be mistaken, what is the most characteristic sign of imperfection?

"Selfishness. Virtuous appearances are too often like gilding upon copper, that cannot stand the application of the touchstone. A man may possess good qualities which make him pass in the eyes of the world for virtuous, but those qualities, though proving him to have made a certain amount of progress, may not be capable of standing trial, and the slightest disturbance of his self-love may suffice to show his real character. Absolute disinterestedness is indeed so rare a thing in your earth, that you may well regard it with wonder, as something phenomenal.

"Attachment to material things is a sign of inferiority, because the more a man cares for the things of this world, the less does he understand his destiny; his disinterestedness, on the contrary, proves that he has arrived at a wider and clearer view of the future."

896. There are persons who are generous, but without discernment, and who lavish their money without doing any real good, from the want of a reasonable plan for its employment; is there any merit in their action?

"Such persons have the merit of disinterestedness, but they have not that of the good they might do. If disinterestedness be a virtue, thoughtless prodigality is always, to say the least of it, a want of judgment. Fortune is no more given to some persons to be thrown away than to others to be locked up in a safe; it is a deposit of which they will have to render an account, for they will have to answer for all the good they might have done, but failed to do, for all the tears they might have dried with the money they have wasted on those who had no need of it."

897. Is he to blame who does good, not with a view to obtaining any reward upon the earth, but in the hope that he will be rewarded for it in the other life, and that his situation there will be the better for having done it? and will such a calculation act unfavourably on his advancement?

"You should do good from charity – that is to say, disinterestedly.

- But it is very natural that we should desire to advance, in order to emerge from, so painful a state as our present life; spirits themselves tell us that we should practise rectitude in order to attain this end. Is it wrong, then, to hope that, through doing good, we may be better off than we are upon the earth?

"Certainly not; but he who does good spontaneously, without even thinking of its result for himself, and simply for the sake of pleasing God and relieving his suffering neighbour, has already reached a higher degree of advancement, and is nearer to the summit of happiness, than his brother who, more selfish, does good from calculation, instead of being impelled to it solely by the sentiment of charity already naturalised in his heart." (894.)

- Should not a distinction be made between the good we do to our neighbour and the care we give to correcting our own defects? We can understand that there is but little merit in doing good with the idea that it will be counted to us in the other life; but is it also a sign of inferiority to amend ourselves, to conquer our passions, to correct whatever is faulty in our disposition, in the hope of bringing ourselves nearer to spirits of higher degree, and of raising ourselves to a higher position in the spirit-world?

"No, no; by 'doing good' we merely meant being charitable. He who calculates, in every charitable deed he does, how much interest it will pay him, in the present life or in the next one, acts selfishly; but there is no selfishness in working out one's own improvement in the hope of bringing one's self nearer to God, which should be the aim of every effort."

898. The corporeal life being only a temporary sojourn in a lower state of existence, and our future life being therefore what we should mainly care for, is there any use in trying to acquire scientific knowledge that only bears upon the objects and wants of corporeal life?

"Undoubtedly there is, for such knowledge enables you to benefit your brethren; and beside, your spirit, if it have already progressed in intelligence, will ascend more rapidly in the other life, and will learn in an hour what it would take you years to learn upon the earth. No kind of knowledge is useless; all knowledge contributes more or less to your advancement, because the perfected spirit must know everything, and because progress has to be made in every direction, so that all acquired ideas help forward his development."

899. Of two men, equally rich, and both of whom employ their wealth solely for their personal satisfaction, but one of whom was born in opulence and has never known want, while the other owes his fortune to his labour, which is the more culpable?

"He who has known what it is to want, for he has felt the suffering which he does not relieve."

900. Can he who constantly accumulates, without doing good to any one, find an excuse in the fact that he will thus leave a larger fortune to his heirs?

"Such an excuse would only be a compromise with a bad conscience.

901. Of two miserly men, one denies himself the necessaries of life, and dies of want in the midst of his treasure; the other is stingy in regard to others, but is lavish in his outlay for himself, and, while he recoils from making the smallest sacrifice to render a service to his neighbour, or to subserve a noble cause, is regardless of expense in the gratification of his tastes or passions. If a kindness is asked of him, he is always short of funds; but, for the satisfying of any fancy of his own, he has always plenty of money. Which of them is the more guilty of the two, and which of them will be the worse off in the spirit-word?

"He who spends on his own enjoyment, for he is more selfish than miserly. The other is already undergoing a part of his punishment."

902. Is it wrong to desire riches as a means of doing good?

"Such a desire is laudable when it is pure; but is it always quite disinterested, and does it never cover any secret thought of self? Is not the first person to whom one wishes to do good too often one's self?"

903. Is it wrong to study other people's defects?

"To do so merely for the sake of criticising or divulging them is very wrong, for it is a want of charity. To do so with a view to your own benefit, through your consequent avoidance of those defects in your own person, may sometimes be useful; but you must not forget that indulgence for the faults of others is one of the elements of charity. Before reproaching others with their imperfections, you should see whether others might not reproach you with the same defects. The only way to profit by such a critical examination of your neighbour's faults is by endeavouring to acquire the opposite virtues. Is he miserly? Be generous. Is he proud? Be humble and modest. Is he harsh? Be gentle. Is he shabby and petty? Be great in all you do. In a word, act in such a way as that it may not be said of you, in the words of Jesus, that you 'see the mote in your brother's eye, but do not see the beam in your own eye.'"

904. Is it wrong to probe the sores of society for the purpose of rendering them evident?

"That depends on the motive from which it is done. If a writer's only object be to create a scandal, it is a procuring of a personal satisfaction for himself by the presentation of pictures that are corrupting rather than instructive. The mind necessarily perceives the evils of society, but the observer who takes pleasure in portraying evil for its own sake will be punished for doing so."

- How can we judge, in such a case, of the purity of intention and the sincerity of an author?

"It is not always necessary to do so. If he writes good things, profit by them; if bad ones, it is a question of conscience that concerns himself. But if he desires to prove his sincerity, he must do so by the excellence of his own example."

905. There are books that are very fine, full of moral teachings from which, though they have aided the progress of the human race, their authors have not derived much moral profit. Will the good those authors have done by their writings be counted to them as spirits?

"The principles of morality, without a corresponding practice, are the seed without the

sowing. Of what use is the seed, if you do not make it fructify and feed you? Such men are all the more guilty, because they possess the intelligence which enables them to comprehend. By not practising the virtues they recommend to others, they fail to secure the harvest they might have reaped for themselves."

906. Is it wrong for him who does good to be conscious of the goodness of his deed, and to acknowledge that goodness to himself?

"Since a man is conscious of the evil he does, he must also be conscious of the good he accomplishes; it is only by this testimony of his conscience that he can know whether he has done ill or well. It is by weighing all his actions in the scales of God's law, and especially of the law of justice, love, and charity, that he can decide whether they are good or bad, and can thus approve or disapprove of them. It cannot, therefore, be wrong in him to recognise the fact that he has triumphed over his evil tendencies, and to rejoice in having done so, provided he does not make this recognition a subject of vanity, for, in that case, he would be giving way to a tendency as reprehensible as any of those over which he has triumphed." (919.)