The Spirits’ Teachings

True Ownership

9. Humans truly possess only what they can take with them from this world. What they find upon arriving and what they leave behind upon departing, they can only enjoy during their stay. However, since they are forced to abandon it, they can only enjoy it and not truly possess it. What, then, do they truly possess? Nothing that is for the use of their body, but everything that is for the use of their soul: intelligence, knowledge, moral qualities. These are what they bring with them and what they take back; what no one can take from them and what will be more useful for them in the other world than in this one. It is up to them to be wealthier upon departing than they were upon arriving, for their future situation will depend on whatever good they have acquired. Whenever people go to a far-off country, they place in their luggage objects that will be useful in that country; they do not carry anything that would be useless. Therefore, do likewise regarding your future life, and provide yourselves with everything that will be of use to you there.

Travelers who stop at an inn are given a nice room only if they can pay for it; those who have scanty resources are given a less agreeable one; as far as those who do not have any money at all, they sleep on a pile of straw. The same applies to humans when they arrive in the spirit world: their place there depends on their means; however, they will not pay with gold. They will not be asked, “How much did you have on earth? What position did you occupy there? Were you a prince or a laborer?” But they will be asked, “What have you brought back with you?” The value of things or titles will not be acknowledged, only the sum of their virtues. Thus, in this respect the laborer may be wealthier than the prince. In vain will the prince allege that, before his departure, he paid for his entry with gold. He will receive the response, “Places here cannot be purchased; they are earned by the good one has done.” With earthly money you were able to purchase fields, houses, palaces; here, everything is paid for with the qualities of the heart. Are you rich in such qualities? Then you are welcome and may go to the highest place, where all kinds of happiness await you; Are you poor in these qualities? Then you must go to the lowest place, where you will be treated according to what you possess.

Pascal (Geneva, 1860)