21. Let us now look at the consequences of the “non- reincarnation” doctrine. This doctrine necessarily  annuls the pre-existence of the soul. Since souls are created at the same time as the body, there are no previous links between them. They are complete strangers to one another. The father is a stranger to his child. The kinship between families is thus reduced solely to corporeal kinship without any spiritual link. There is therefore no reason to glorify oneself for having had such and such famous personages as  ancestors. With  reincarnation, ancestors and descendants may have known each other, lived together, loved each other, and find themselves reunited later on in order to tighten their bonds of sympathy.

22. All this has to do with the past. As for the future, according to one of the fundamental dogmas resulting from non- reincarnation, the destiny of souls is irrevocably  set after one sole existence. This definitive fixing of their destiny implies the cessation of all progress, because if there is any progress at all, there is no longer a definitive destiny. Depending on whether they have lived well or badly, they go immediately either to the dwelling place of the blessed or to eternal hell. Hence, they are immediately separated forever, without hope of ever being united again, so that fathers, mothers and  children, husbands and  wives, brothers, sisters and friends are never certain of seeing each other again. It is the most complete rupture of family ties.

With reincarnation and the progress that results from it, all those who have loved one another meet again on earth and in space, gravitating together to reach God. Those who fail along the way delay their advancement and happiness, but all hope is not lost. Helped, encouraged and upheld by those who love them, they will one day exit the quagmire in which they have been immersed. In short, with reincarnation there is ongoing solidarity between incarnates and discarnates, and hence the tightening of the bonds of affection.

23. In summary, four alternatives are presented to humans for their future beyond the grave: first, nothingness,  according to the materialist doctrine; second, absorption into the universal whole, according to the pantheistic doctrine; third, individuality with a definitive fixed fate, according to the Church’s doctrine; fourth, individuality with unending progress, according to the Spiritist doctrine. According to the first two, family ties are broken after death, and there is no hope of meeting again; with the third, there is a chance family members will see each other again, provided they are in the same environment, and this environment might be hell as well as heaven; with the plurality of existences, which is inseparable from gradual progression, there is certainty about the continuity of relationships between those who love one another, and this is what comprises the true family.