Should One Risk One’s Own Life for a Criminal?

A man is in danger of death; in order to save him, one must risk one’s own life. However, it is known that he is a criminal, and that if he escapes death,  he will be able to commit more crimes. In spite of this fact, should one risk one’s life to save him?

This is a very serious question, one that a spirit naturally could  face.  I  will  respond  in  accordance with  my  moral advancement, since the issue is whether or not one should risk one’s life for a criminal. Devotion is blind; one lends aid to an enemy; therefore, one must also lend aid to an enemy of society – a criminal, in other words. Do you think that you will only tear this criminal away from death? Perhaps, it will be from his entire past life. Consider the possibility that, in those quick instants that drag the final minutes of life from him, this lost man returns to his past life, or rather, his past life arises before him. Death, perhaps, is coming too soon for him; reincarnation could be terrible. So rush to his aid! You, whom the Spiritist science has enlightened, rush to him and snatch him from his condemnation, and then perhaps the person who would have died cursing you will instead throw himself into your arms. You should not ask yourselves, however, if he is going to do so or not; just go to his aid, because in saving him you obey that voice of the heart that tells you, “You can save him, so save him!”

Lamennais (Paris, 1862)