Health and wellness

11. Does moral perfection consist in the maceration of the body? To resolve this issue, I will base myself on elementary principles and I will begin by demonstrating the need to take care of the body which, according to the alternatives of health and illness, has a very important influence on the soul, which must be considered captive. of the meat. In order for this prisoner to live, expand and even conceive the illusions of freedom, her body must be healthy, willing, strong. Let's make a comparison: Behold, they are both in perfect condition; What should they do to balance their very different skills and needs? Inevitable seems the struggle between the two and difficult to find the secret of how to reach balance.[1] Two systems face each other: that of the ascetics, which is based on the annihilation of the body, and that of the materialists, which is based on the abasement of the soul. Two violences almost as senseless as each other. Alongside these two great parties, there is a large tribe of indifferents who, without conviction and without passion, are lukewarm in loving and economical in enjoying. Where, then, is wisdom? Where, then, is the science of living? Nowhere; and the great problem would remain unsolved if Spiritism did not come to the aid of researchers, demonstrating to them the relationships that exist between body and soul and telling them that, as they are in mutual dependence, it is important to take care of both. So love your soul, but also take care of your body, its instrument. To disregard the needs that Nature itself indicates is to disregard the law of God. Do not punish the body for the faults that your free will induced it to commit and for which it is as responsible as the misguided horse, for the accidents it causes. Will you, perhaps, be more perfect if, by martyring your body, you do not become less selfish, nor less proud and more charitable towards your neighbor? No, perfection is not in that: it is all in the reforms through which you make your Spirit pass. Bend him, submit him, humiliate him, mortify him: this is the way to make him docile to the will of God and the only way to reach perfection.