Complementary text on addiction

Hello everyone!

To complement the text of addiction, in which we talked about the weakness of addicts before their lives, we seek comfort in the wise words of the gospel where Christ tells us “Blessed be the afflicted, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them", He did not refer to all those who suffer, seeing that everyone on Earth suffers, hether they be seated upon thrones or lie upon straw. But alas! So few suffer well! A mere handful understand that only trials which have been well supported can lead to the Kingdom of God. Despondency is a fault and God will refuse consolation to those who lack courage. Prayer supports the soul; however, alone it is not nough. It is also necessary to have a firm belief in the kindness of God as the basis for deep faith. You have heard it said many times that He does not put a heavy burden on weak shoulders. The burden is always in proportion to the strength, just as the recompense depends on the degree of resignation and courage. The more painful the affliction the greater the recompense. It behooves then to make ourselves worthy and it is for this purpose that life presents itself so full of tribulations.

The soldier who is not sent to the front is discontent because by resting in camp he will never receive promotion. So then, be like soldiers and do not desire repose which will only allow the body to debilitate, and benumb the soul! Be content when God sends you into battle because this is not a battle of the fireing-line, but of the bitterness of life, where frequently the one who stands firm before an enemy weakens when confronted with the tenacity of moral suffering.

Although there is no reward for this kind of courage on Earth, God will reserve the laurels of victory and a place of glory for those who withstand. When facing sufferings or obstacles, if you are able to place yourself above the situation, by managing to dominate the impulses of impatience, anger and despair, then you may say to yourself with just satisfaction, 'I was the stronger'. So then, blessed are the afflicted may be translated in the following manner: blessed are those who have occasion to  prove their faith, firmness, perseverance, and submission to the Will of God, because they will have multiplied a hundred times the happiness they lacked on Earth, for after labor comes repose.”

May we be strong in the face of life, for the affliction can be lever of progress. Let us use it to enlarge and not as the reason for future and more painful afflictions. And above all be strong for ourselves and those around us who suffer with us many times but remains firm to help us, to have faith and hope! May we be strong for ourselves to be proud of our overland journey and leave it with dignity and satisfaction. May we be examples of light, we are just one call alone, but together we can be like a sun that dispels the fog that night left behind.

(1. Kardec, Allan. Blessed are the afflicted. In "The Gospel According to Spiritism," chap. 5, I-Instructions of spirits, item18.)

Addiction

Hello everyone!

Today I will talk a little about the addiction problem that has always affected mankind and today is increasingly present in society. But... what addiction means? According to the dictionary means bad habit. Is that correct? In part, because the bad habit would be the consequence of addiction.

We have a very narrow view in relation to addiction, we always use the word addiction when we see someone using drugs, drinking or smoking, we also have the habit of consider them vagrants and criminals, which demonstrates our habit of looking at external things with "evil eyes".

I'm not trying to say that their attitudes must pass with impunity, because every action carries a consequence whatsoever, and we know that in many cases to support their addictions addicts often make choices and act very unfortunate, but there are different forms of addictions even thoughts and attitudes can be vicious.

We should keep in mind that addicts are poor and suffering brothers, who have an intimate life very unhappy and unresolved, the environment disturbed and in disarray much help the development of a dependent, but the weakness to give in to addiction is each.

But from which comes this weakness? Well .. we have in each part of the world a form of culture and belief, knowledge passed on to offspring and to those around us in a constant exchange of knowledge, but not always have the same foundation and are correct.

Unfortunately, many people accept information from outside and take them as absolute truths because they had a source, someone for whom the listener has to be considered or someone you know.

Often the transfer of certain customs is forced, in a very traditional family circle, which prevents the individual to develop his inner sense and "take charge" of their own lives, their choices and following trends, however this is only an aggravating at any time is not the root of the problem and does not release dependent on its own responsibility for your current situation.

But what leads the addict to do that? There are many answers and possibilities, but we can always get a similar response, which would be the escape from reality, they have their mental planes disrupted and suffer a mental weakening energy so strong, that they prefer to escape and forget reality.

Prefer to use addiction as a barrier that distorts reality and acts as a false protection as they build an intimate world with their false explanations for not realizing or not accepting its reality.

The reality for them is so destructive, that their mental planes becomes chaotic, consuming their energies and making them live in constant "drunkenness of soul," a mixture of fluids of dejection, fatigue and boredom, which causes become alienated and idle.

In fact they do not become lazy because the idleness turns out to be the "cause and effect" of addictions. They use this fact to not "roll up their sleeves" and face the part they play in life. They deny their fears, and take actions that hamper their life course and directly their spiritual evolution.

The addict is actually accommodated, because he is afraid of life that he judges threatening, use the addiction and destructive habits as a way inadequate security and protection because he was so weakened towards life that took refuge in the dependence of people or substances. So guys...got it? I hope so! ^ - ^

Complementary Text on Detachment

We all have memories, longing that touch bottom in the heart, this whole "arsenal" may or may not be a form of attachment. Some memories are so strongly marked in our hearts that a mere mention brings bitter sweet memories or sorrow.

These forms of memory that we must watch to have a "good relationship" with our past. Detachment does not mean banishing the memories, does not require forgetting them, because every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant brings learning opportunities.

Many of these memories can haunt us and the origin of memories are different, can be related to lost jobs and opportunities in the professional field, a warm "spring love" lost or unrequited love, platonic love even that we dreamed. All these memories can become unpleasant and bring suffering to our hearts.

But all the "losses" that may occur in human life, which we categorize as one of the most painful experiences is the discarnate. The disincarnation often causes a very large initial trauma because the loved one being "ripped off" from us in a quick and often abrupt, even the "disembodied expected" brings suffering.

Faced with the disembodied, our hearts often feel lost, empty and fall into despair by the sadness and longing that we feel for our own. These feelings are born in our hearts, often by the impact and our weakness or our ignorance towards the spiritual life. The disembodied, is merely the extinction of the physical body, the soul returns to the essence of the spiritual, true "homeland" of all of us, the earthly life is an opportunity given to us to evolve we can consider the earthly life as a school .

There is a entertaining way to see the disembodied it would be like a trip, as if we were all on an island (this life) where there is disease, hunger, war and all the tortures that men often causes, and some receive a ticket to return to the mainland (spiritual life),where they would be free from all sufferings and martyrdoms of the body. Those who received the passage is obviously direct to the boat, and head west, if we were watching the boat, then he would disappear on the horizon, however the fact that it disappeared, does not mean it is not there right?

The disembodied, would be like that boat trip, where our loved ones just disappear in our physical sensory contact, but we can "contact" them with the prayer warmth, hopeful and full of happy memories that fill the heart with glee and the joy to have been experienced, because it is taken and felt for them, they also feel the same longing and know that one day there will be a reunion, but also feel and suffer when the memory is tortuous and filled with suffering and despair, which is not uncommon especially at the beginning of the period of separation.

The light found in the loving and enlightening words of [1] Samson may aid us: “When death cuts down someone in your family, carrying off the youngest before the oldest without discrimination, you are accustomed to say that God is not just: because He sacrifices he who is strong and has all his future before him, leaving those who have lived many years and are full of deceptions: because He takes those who are useful and leaves behind those who are no longer able to work: because He breaks the heart of a mother by depriving her of the innocent creature who was her only joy. Humans, it is on this point that you must lift yourselves above commonplace thoughts about life in order to be able to understand that goodness is frequently where you judge there to be evil, and the wisdom of providence where you think you perceive the blind fatality of destiny. 

Why do you evaluate divine justice by you own ideas? Do you suppose that the Lord of the Worlds applies justice through mere caprice, in order to inflict cruel punishment? Nothing happens that has not an intelligent meaning and no matter what happens there is always a reason for it. If you scrutinize better all the pain that redounds to you then you would surely find divine reason, regenerating reason, where in you would see the worthlessness of your interests which, as a consequence, would become so secondary as to be cast into last place. Believe me, in the case of an incarnation of twenty years, death is preferable to any of the shameful dissipations which bring untold distress to respectable families, break the hearts of mothers and cause parents' hair to whiten before their time. 

Premature death is frequently a great blessing which God concedes to those who depart, so preserving them from the miseries of life or the seductions which possibly occasioned the loss of life. The person who dies in the flower of youth is not a victim of fate. God judges that it is not suitable for that person to remain longer on Earth. What a terrible tragedy, you say, to see the thread of life that was so full of hope, cut! To what hope are you referring? That of the Earth? Where he who had gone could have perhaps shone or made his way and become rich? Always there is this restricted vision which prevents one from rising above that which is material. Who can tell what might have been the actual fate of that life which you thought so full of hope? How do you know that it would not have been saturated with bitterness? Do you then disdain the hopes offered by the future life, to the point of preferring this fleeting existence here on Earth? Do you suppose that a high position amongst men is worth more than an elevated place amongst the blessed Spirits?

Instead of complaining, rejoice when it pleases God to withdraw one of your children from this vale of miseries. Would it not be selfish to wish that they continue suffering at your side? Ah! This is the pain conceived by those lacking in faith, who see death as an eternal separation! But those of you who are Spiritists know that the soul lives better when it is separated from its material form. Mothers, know that your beloved children are near you, yes, very near. Their fluidic bodies embrace you, their thoughts protect you and the remembrances that you keep delight them with happiness; but your unreasonable pain afflicts them, because it reveals a lack of faith, so constituting a revolt against the Will of God. 

Those of you who understand the meaning of spiritual life, listen to the beatings of your heart when calling to these loved ones. If you ask God to bless them, you will feel great consolation, the kind which will dry your tears; you will feel magnificent aspirations which will show you the future which our Supreme Lord has promised. “

Let us reflect on these words of wisdom and expand our awareness of the disincarnation. That they might be a balm for suffering hearts and that the same become hopeful. We close here the theme Detachment, if there is any questions, just let me know that I will do whatever is within reach of my understanding to clarify the matter. ^ - ^