Spirits book, Chap I (part two) - Hierarchy and Progression of Spirits

1. May 6th, 2018
Spirits’ Book - Chap I
(Part two)
Hierarchy and
Progression of
SPIRITS1

2. 96. Are all spirits equal or is there
among them a hierarchy of ranks?
"They are of different orders according to their
individual degree of self-purification."
2

3. DIFFERENT ORDERS OF SPIRITS
1st Order
2nd Order
3rd Order
SB, Q 96-100
3

4. 3RD ORDER
SB, Q 96-101
4
Predominant influence of matter over spirit. Propensity to evil.
Ignorance, pride, selfishness, and all the evil passions which result
from these. Some take pleasure in Evil; Some others do no good or
evil (doing no good denotes their inferiority already). Some are just
frivolous or foolish. Some envy or are jealous of the happiness
of good spirits. Their character are revealed by their language
or thoughts suggested to others’ minds.
They have the intuition of the existence of God, but they have no
comprehension of Him. They have narrow knowledge with false or
incomplete notes of the Spirit-world

5. 3RD ORDER
SB, Q 96-101
4
Predominant influence of matter over spirit. Propensity to evil.
Ignorance, pride, selfishness, and all the evil passions which result
from these. Some take pleasure in Evil; Some others do no good or
evil (doing no good denotes their inferiority already). Some are just
frivolous or foolish. Some envy or are jealous of the happiness
of good spirits. Their character are revealed by their language
or thoughts suggested to others’ minds.
They have the intuition of the existence of God, but they have no
comprehension of Him. They have narrow knowledge with false or
incomplete notes of the Spirit-world

6. 3RD ORDER
SB, Q 96-101
4
Predominant influence of matter over spirit. Propensity to evil.
Ignorance, pride, selfishness, and all the evil passions which result
from these. Some take pleasure in Evil; Some others do no good or
evil (doing no good denotes their inferiority already). Some are just
frivolous or foolish. Some envy or are jealous of the happiness
of good spirits. Their character are revealed by their language
or thoughts suggested to others’ minds.
They have the intuition of the existence of God, but they have no
comprehension of Him. They have narrow knowledge with false or
incomplete notes of the Spirit-world

7. 3RD ORDER
* 10th Class: IMPURE SPIRITS
SB, Q 102-106
5

8. 3RD ORDER
* 10th Class: IMPURE SPIRITS
* 9th Class: FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS
SB, Q 102-106
5

9. 3RD ORDER
* 10th Class: IMPURE SPIRITS
* 9th Class: FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS
* 8th Class: PSEUDO-LEARNED SPIRITS
SB, Q 102-106
5

10. 3RD ORDER
* 10th Class: IMPURE SPIRITS
* 9th Class: FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS
* 8th Class: PSEUDO-LEARNED SPIRITS
* 7th Class: NEUTRAL SPIRITS
SB, Q 102-106
5

11. 3RD ORDER
* 10th Class: IMPURE SPIRITS
* 9th Class: FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS
* 8th Class: PSEUDO-LEARNED SPIRITS
* 7th Class: NEUTRAL SPIRITS
* 6th Class: BOISTERO (Rude) AND DISTURBING
SPIRITS
SB, Q 102-106
5

12. 2ND ORDERSB, Q 107
6
United by affection, They have acquired the comprehension of the idea
of God and of infinity, and already share the happiness of the higher
spheres. They find their happiness both in the accomplishment of good
and in the prevention of evil. (…) but they have still to undergo the
discipline of trial until they have completed the work of their purification.
Influence incarnate towards the good and when incarnate are
benevolent (no hatred, envy nor jealously etc…)
Predominance of spirit over matter (and good over evil); desire of
excellence. Their qualities and their power for good are proportionate to the
degree at which they have arrived. Some of them possess scientific
knowledge, others have acquired wisdom and charity; the more
advanced among them combine knowledge with moral excellence. Not being
yet completely dematerialised, they preserve the traces of their
corporeal existence (…).

13. 2ND ORDERSB, Q 107
6
Predominance of spirit over matter (and good over evil); desire of
excellence. Their qualities and their power for good are proportionate to the
degree at which they have arrived. Some of them possess scientific
knowledge, others have acquired wisdom and charity; the more
advanced among them combine knowledge with moral excellence. Not being
yet completely dematerialised, they preserve the traces of their
corporeal existence (…).
United by affection, They have acquired the comprehension of the idea
of God and of infinity, and already share the happiness of the higher
spheres. They find their happiness both in the accomplishment of good
and in the prevention of evil. (…) but they have still to undergo the
discipline of trial until they have completed the work of their purification.
Influence incarnate towards the good and when incarnate are
benevolent (no hatred, envy nor jealously etc…)

14. 2ND ORDER
United by affection, They have acquired the comprehension of the idea
of God and of infinity, and already share the happiness of the higher
spheres. They find their happiness both in the accomplishment of good
and in the prevention of evil. (…) but they have still to undergo the
discipline of trial until they have completed the work of their purification.
Influence incarnate towards the good and when incarnate are
benevolent (no hatred, envy nor jealously etc…)
SB, Q 107
6
Predominance of spirit over matter (and good over evil); desire of
excellence. Their qualities and their power for good are proportionate to the
degree at which they have arrived. Some of them possess scientific
knowledge, others have acquired wisdom and charity; the more
advanced among them combine knowledge with moral excellence. Not being
yet completely dematerialised, they preserve the traces of their
corporeal existence (…).

15. * 5th Class: BENEVOLENT SPIRITS
2ND ORDERSB, Q 108-111
7

16. * 5th Class: BENEVOLENT SPIRITS
2ND ORDER
* 4th Class: LEARNED SPIRITS
SB, Q 108-111
7

17. * 5th Class: BENEVOLENT SPIRITS
2ND ORDER
* 4th Class: LEARNED SPIRITS
* 3rd Class: WISE SPIRITS
SB, Q 108-111
7

18. * 5th Class: BENEVOLENT SPIRITS
2ND ORDER
* 4th Class: LEARNED SPIRITS
* 3rd Class: WISE SPIRITS
* 2nd Class: HIGH ORDER SPIRITS
SB, Q 108-111
7

19. 1ST ORDER
SB, Q 112-113
8
They have passed up through every degree of the scale of progress, and have
freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality. (…) Being no
longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the
life of eternity in the immediate presence of God. (…)They are the
messengers and ministers of God, the executors of His orders in the
maintenance of universal harmony.
No influence of matter; absolute intellectual and moral superiority, in
comparison with the spirits of all the other orders, which may be termed
perfection.

20. 1ST ORDER
They have passed up through every degree of the scale of progress, and have
freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality. (…) Being no
longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the
life of eternity in the immediate presence of God. (…)They are the
messengers and ministers of God, the executors of His orders in the
maintenance of universal harmony.
SB, Q 112-113
8
No influence of matter; absolute intellectual and moral superiority, in
comparison with the spirits of all the other orders, which may be termed
perfection.

21. 1ST ORDER
SB, Q 112-113
8
They have passed up through every degree of the scale of progress, and have
freed themselves from all the impurities of materiality. (…) Being no
longer subject to reincarnation in perishable bodies, they enter on the
life of eternity in the immediate presence of God. (…)They are the
messengers and ministers of God, the executors of His orders in the
maintenance of universal harmony.
No influence of matter; absolute intellectual and moral superiority, in
comparison with the spirits of all the other orders, which may be termed
perfection.

22. 1ST ORDER
* 1st (and only) Class
SB, Q 112-113
9
They exercise a sovereign command over all spirits inferior to themselves, aid
them in accomplishing the work of their purification, and assign to each of them
a mission proportioned to the progress already made by them

23. “There is, indeed, one between the spirits,
but it is based only on the virtues and
qualities acquired by the work and
suffering. We know that all spirits are
equal, at first, and destined to the same
end, differing only by their degree of
progress.
Denis, Léon. After Death
HIERARCHY OF SPIRITS
10

24. “No Tree shall be known by its
exterior appearance, but just by
its fruit, utility and production.”
… BY ITS FRUIT
11

25. “They may improve themselves,
and as they do so they pass from a
lower order to a higher one.”
SB, Q 114
GOOD OR EVIL BY NATURE?
12

26. "The same spirits made better through their own efforts. In
growing better they pass from a lower to a higher
order.” (SB, Q114)
ORDER CLASS
1st order 1st (and only) Class
2nd order
HIGH ORDER SPIRITS
WISE SPIRITS
LEARNED SPIRITS
BENEVOLENT SPIRITS
3rd order
BOISTERO AND DISTURBING SPIRITS
NEUTRAL SPIRITS
PSEUDO-LEARNED SPIRITS
FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS
IMPURE SPIRITS
THE PROGRESSION OF SPIRITS
13

27. DO ALL
SPIRITS
PROGRESS?
14

28. CAN SPIRITS
REGRESS?
SB, Q118
15

29. MUST ALL SPIRITS
PASS THROUGH THE
TRIAL OF EVIL TO
REACH THE GOOD?
SB, Q120
“Not evil, but ignorance”
16

30. WHO DOES MY
PROGRESS
DEPEND ON?
“Don’t they have free will?(…)”
SB, Q121
17

31. ANGELS AND DEMONS
18

32. ANGELS AND DEMONS
18
"If demons existed, they would be
the work of God; but would it he
just on the part of God to have
created beings condemned eternally
to evil and to misery?(…)
SB, Q131
(…) the spirits who have purified
themselves from all imperfection,
have reached the highest degree of
the scale of progress, and united
in themselves all species of
perfection.”
SB,Q 128

33. 125. Will those Spirits who follow the path of
evil be able to arrive at the same degree of
elevation as the others?
“Yes, but the eternities will be much
longer for them”
19

34. “God looks upon those who have gone astray with the same
regard and loves all of them in the same way. They are called
evil because they have succumbed; before that, they were
nothing more than simple spirits.” Q126
20

35. Luke 15:4-7
21
NO SHEEP WILL BE LOST

36. 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t
he leave the ninety-nine in the open
country and go after the lost sheep
until he finds it? 5 And when he finds
it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his
friends and neighbors together and
says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have
found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that
in the same way there will be more
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who do not need to
repent.
Luke 15:4-7
21
NO SHEEP WILL BE LOST

37. 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t
he leave the ninety-nine in the open
country and go after the lost sheep
until he finds it? 5 And when he finds
it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his
friends and neighbors together and
says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have
found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that
in the same way there will be more
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who do not need to
repent.
Luke 15:4-7
21
NO SHEEP WILL BE LOST

38. 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t
he leave the ninety-nine in the open
country and go after the lost sheep
until he finds it? 5 And when he finds
it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his
friends and neighbors together and
says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have
found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that
in the same way there will be more
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who do not need to
repent.
Luke 15:4-7
21
NO SHEEP WILL BE LOST

39. 22
THE CHRISTIAN RISE

40. The bright day never does any
harm. However, very often, the
small matters of the world
interrupt the journey of men to
God, our Father. Almost always,
in order to proceed towards the
high and sovereign duty, our soul
requires the cooperation of others
as much as the feet need the
protective sandal on these rugged
paths ... Every difficulty in
ascension lies in the insignificant
problems of the path ...
Irmão X, Francisco Cândido
Xavier. Luz Acima
22

41. May 6th, 2018
Spirits’ Book - Chap I
(Part two)
Hierarchy and
Progression of
SPIRITS23