A Future Life

The clear and precise idea that can be formed of a future life provides an unshakable faith in what is to come. This faith places enormous consequences upon the moralization of Man, because it completely changes the point of view as to how life on earth is regarded. For those who place themselves by means of thought in the spiritual life, which is undefined, bodily life becomes a mere temporary stay in an ungrateful country. The vicissitudes and tribulations of this life becomes nothing more than incidents, which can be supported with patience as they are known to be of short duration and will be followed by a more amenable state. Death no longer has the terror attached to it; it ceases to be a door opening on to nothingness and becomes a door that opens to liberation, through which the exile enters into a well-blessed mansion, and there finds peace. Knowing that the place where we find ourselves at the moment is only temporary and not definite makes us pay less attention to the preoccupations of life, resulting in less bitterness and a more peaceful spirit.

Simply by doubting the existence of a future life, Man directs all his thoughts to earthly existence. Without any certainly of what is to come he gives everything to the present. With the mistaken idea that there is nothing more precious than earthly things, Man behaves as a child who can see only its toys, and is prepared to go any length to obtain the only possessions he judges to be solid. The loss of even the least of these causes pungent hurt, be it a mistake, a deception, an unsatisfied ambition, an injustice to which the person has fallen victim, hurt pride or vanity. These are some of the torments that turn existence into an eternal agony, so in this manner causing self-inflicted torture at every step. From the point of view of earthly life, in whose centre we place ourselves, everything around us begins to assume vast proportions. The harm that reaches us, as well as the good that touches others, takes on a great importance in our eyes. It is like a man, who, when in the middle of a great city sees everything on a large scale, but who, when looking down from a mountain top sees things in only minute form.

This is what happens when we look at life from the point of view of a future existence. Humanity, just as the stars in space, loses itself in the great immensity. We begin to see that great and small things are cofounded, as ants on top of an anthill, that proletarians and potentates are the same stature. So many short-lived individuals give themselves over to so much labor in order to conquer a place that will do so little to elevate them, and which they occupy for so short a space of time. From this follows that the value given to earthly things is completely in reverse to that which comes from a firm belief in a future life.

If everybody thought in that manner, it could be argued that everything on earth would be endangered because no one would bother about anything. But mankind instinctively looks after its own well being, so even if it were known it was to be only for a short while, everyone would still do his or her best. There is no one, when finding a thorn in their hand, will not take it out so as not to suffer. Well then, the desire for comfort forces people to better all things, seeing that we are impelled by the instincts of progress and conversation, which are elements of The Laws of Nature. Therefore, Humanity works not only through necessity but because it wants to, and because of a sense of duty, so obeying the designs of Providence, which placed all people on Earth for that purpose. Only a person who occupies himself or herself more with the future can give relative importance to the present. These people are easily consoled in all of their failings and misfortunes by thinking of the destiny that awaits.

Accordingly, Spirit does not condemn all earthly pleasures and possessions, but only condemns the abuse of the things in detriment to the soul.

Those who identify themselves with a future life are as a rich person who loses a small sum without emotion. Those whose thoughts are concentrated on earthly things are as the poor man whose loses all be has, and so becomes desperate.

A belief in a Future Life opens up and broadens out the thought process, so offering new horizons. In place of a short-sighted vision concentrated only on the present, which makes this fleeting moment passed on earth the unique and fragile axis of eternal future, this belief shows us that life is nothing more than a link in the magnificent, harmonious assembly which is Spirit’s work. It also shows us the solidarity that joins together all the different existences of one being, of all beings of the same world, and all the beings of all the worlds. It offers the base and the reason for universal fraternity, whereas the doctrine of the creation of the soul at the birth of the body makes each individual a stranger one to the other. This solidarity between parts of a whole explains what is inexplicable when only one of these parts is considered.

Remember, It Is All Good!