Through the education, generations are transformed and improved. A new society requires new men. Thus, the education of children is of paramount importance.

It is not enough to teach the child the elements of science. As essential as knowing how to read, write and calculate is learning to govern oneself, to behave as a rational and conscious being, it is entering the armed life not only for the material struggle but, above all, for the moral struggle. But this is the least of our concerns. We are trying to develop the child’s bright faculties and aspects, not his virtues. In school, as in the family, too much neglect is given to the clarification of their duties and destiny. Thus, devoid of high principles, ignorant of the purpose of existence, the day he enters into public life is exposed to all the temptations, to all the attractions of passion, in a sensual and corrupt environment.

Even in the second cycle, what is done is to fill the brain of the pupil with an undigested accumulation of notions and facts, dates and names, all this to the detriment of moral teaching. The school morality, devoid of effective sanction, without a purpose of universal order, is nothing more than a sterile moral, incapable of reforming society.

The education given in religious establishments, where the child becomes prey to fanaticism and superstition, is also childish, and acquires nothing but false ideas about present life and the hereafter.

The work of a teacher is rarely good moral education. To awaken in the child the first aspirations for good, to straighten out a difficult character, it is necessary at the same time perseverance, firmness and an affection which only the heart of a father or mother is capable of. If parents fail to correct their children, how can the one who leads a large number of them?

This task is not, however, as difficult as one might think. It does not require a deep science. Both young and old can achieve it if they are aware of the aims and consequences of education. One thing must always be kept in mind, and that is that the Spirits have come to us in order to help them overcome their defects and make preparations for the duties of life. We accept, through marriage, the mission of leading them; we carry it out with love, but with a love free from weakness, for love taken to the extreme limit is full of dangers. Let us study from the cradle the tendencies acquired by the child in his previous existences, and let us devote ourselves to developing the good ones and to drowning the bad ones. Let us not give them too many joys, so that their young souls, accustomed from the beginning to disenchantment, may understand that life on earth is hard, and that one must count only on oneself and his work, the only thing which provides independence and dignity. Let us not try to divert the action of eternal laws from these children. There are stones in the way of each one of us: only reason teaches us to avoid.

Do not entrust your children to others as you are not absolutely obliged to do so. Education cannot be mercenary. What does a nurse care if a child talks or walks in this or that way? It has no maternal meaning or love. On the contrary, how much joy does the mother feel at the first steps of her cherub! No fatigue, no work stops her. Love! Do the same with the soul of your children. Have even more concern for it than for the body. It will be soon spent and thrown into the osorio, while the immortal soul, radiant for the care of which it was surrounded, for the acquired merits and for the progress achieved, will live through time to bless you and to love you.

The education, based on an accurate conception of life, would change the face of the world. Suppose all families initiated into the spiritualist beliefs sanctioned by the facts, instilling them in their children, at the same time that the neutral school taught them the principles of science and the wonders of the Universe. Social change would soon be rapid under the action of this double current. All moral wounds are due to bad manners. To reform it, to establish it on new bases, would have incalculable consequences for humanity. Let us instruct the youth and enlighten their intelligence; but first of all let us speak to their heart and teach them to shed their imperfections. Let us remember that the science par excellence is about making ourselves better.

León Denis – The Straight Path ┃ Spiritist concept of moral law