MORAL LAWS

Introduction | Worship | Work | Reproduction | Preservation
Destruction | Social Law | Progress | Equality
Liberty | Justice, Love, & Compassion


 Law of Justice, Love, and Compassion 

 

As humans, we are born with a natural notion of justice, which is the respect for others' rights, though often our worldly ambitions blur our true sense of justice.  These rights are determined by human law, based on present, yet evolving societal values which are not always consistent with true justice, and by natural law, the criterion for which is to wish for others what we would wish for ourselves.  Also, using this criterion, our deep down consciousness of our own strengths and weaknesses will allow us to sense when to defer and show respect for those whose wisdom or virtues set them apart.  The most important among our natural rights is the right to life.  We do have the right to accumulate wealth and possessions, but this should be the result of honest work and a selfless stance towards life and family, and should be acquired without injury to others.

The true meaning of love in Jesus' teaching to "Love Thy Neighbor" means compassion for everyone, tolerance for the imperfections of others, and forgiveness of all offenses.  "Loving one's enemies" does not mean to feel an ardent and tender affection for those who have hurt or offended us, but rather to forgive them and return good for wrong-doing.  True charity refers to a compassionate and discrete assistance to those in need causing humiliation.

Motherly love, the drive to protect and provide for, is both an instinctive feeling, common to humans and animals, as well as a virtue obtained by humans when unselfish devotion is raised to such a rank.  Motherly love survives death and follows the life of the child from beyond the grave.  Its absence in an earthly relationship indicates the incarnation of a less evolved spirit, whose actions and attitudes constitute either a trial chosen for the child or a form of redemption for the actions of the child's spirit in a previous life.

Question: " How can we recognize those individuals who have made enough progress to rise in the spiritual hierarchy?"
Answer: "By how their actions conform to the law of God and by their understanding of the spiritual life."
("The Spirits' Book" Question # 918)

 

 

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SOURCE:

Kardec, Allan. The Spirits' Book.  Trans. Allan Kardec Educational Society (translated from 2nd edition in French). Philadelphia, PA. Allan Kardec Educational Society. 1996. Chs XVII-XXVI.