My Kingdom Is Not of This World

Life after death — The moral authority of Jesus — A new way of looking at life — Instructions from the Spirits: an earthly kingship.

1. Pilate asked Jesus whether he was the king of the Jews. Jesus replied that his kingdom was not of this world. He explained that, if it were an earthly kingdom, his followers would fight to prevent his arrest. He also said that he came into the world to bear witness to the truth and that whoever seeks the truth listens to his voice. (John 18:33-37)

Life after death

2. For Kardec, these words clearly show that Jesus was referring to life after death. The work presents spiritual life as a central idea in Jesus' teachings. Without considering the continuation of life, many of his moral teachings would lose part of the meaning the work gives them.

For this reason, life after death appears near the beginning of this work. According to Kardec, understanding that existence continues helps us look differently at the differences and difficulties of life on Earth and at the idea of divine justice.

3. Kardec states that, in the time of Jesus, the Jews had ideas about life after death that were not very clearly defined. Reward for obedience to God was often understood in terms of prosperity, victories, and the importance of their own people, while defeats and calamities were seen as punishments.

In the interpretation of the work, Moses taught in a way suited to the conditions of his people and his time. Later, Jesus presented more clearly the existence of another life, in which God's justice would continue and where goodness would receive its true reward. It is in this spiritual sense that the work understands the kingdom of Jesus.

Kardec considers that Jesus also adapted his teachings to the ability of people at that time to understand them. For this reason, he would have presented life after death as a fundamental principle without explaining every detail. The work observes that even among Christians there are different ideas and doubts about what this continuation of life would be like.

According to Kardec, Spiritism came to broaden this teaching when people were better prepared to understand it. For the Spiritist Doctrine, life after death is not only a belief: mediumistic communications are presented as evidence of the continuation of spiritual existence.

The work states that the Spirits themselves describe different situations of spiritual life. Kardec understands that these accounts make it possible to form a more concrete idea of this reality, like someone who gets to know a place through detailed descriptions given by people who have been there.

For Kardec, these descriptions also help explain how happiness, suffering, and moral responsibility would continue after death. In the view presented by the work, this offers a coherent explanation of God's justice.

The kingship of Jesus

4. When Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world, Kardec distinguishes political power from moral authority. A person can have enormous influence on humanity without occupying a throne or governing a country. It is in this sense that great thinkers, artists, and other historical figures are sometimes called masters or leading references in their fields.

Political power ends or changes over time. Moral influence based on merit, however, can continue for many generations. Kardec then asks whether the influence of Jesus on humanity does not represent an authority far greater and more lasting than that of many rulers.

It is in this sense that the work understands the answer given to Pilate: Jesus is king, but his kingdom does not belong to the political and material power of this world.

Point of view

5. According to the work, consciously believing in the continuation of life changes the way we see existence on Earth. When spiritual life is understood as much greater than our passage through the material world, earthly events no longer seem final.

From this perspective, difficulties and changes remain painful, but they are seen as temporary. Death no longer represents the end of everything and comes to be understood as a passage. For Kardec, this confidence can bring greater calm when facing losses, worries, and suffering.

When there is great uncertainty about what happens after death, a person may focus all their attention on the present life and on material possessions. Kardec compares this situation to that of a child who considers toys the most important things in the world and suffers greatly when one of them is lost.

In this way, a disappointment, an unfulfilled ambition, an injustice, a wound to one's pride, or comparison with other people's success can take on enormous weight. The work teaches that when everything is viewed only from the perspective of material life, passing events can seem greater than they really are.

Kardec uses a comparison: inside a city, buildings and important people seem very large. Seen from the top of a mountain, they become small. In the same way, when spiritual life is taken into account, many events and social positions in earthly life are seen in a different proportion.

From this broader perspective, differences in wealth, power, and social position lose importance. The work considers that the stronger a person's confidence in the continuation of life, the less attached they tend to become to the possessions and temporary positions of Earth.

6. This does not mean abandoning the responsibilities of material life. Even knowing that they will stay in a certain place only for a short time, a person still tries to live there in the best possible way. If they find something that hurts them, they naturally try to solve the problem.

Kardec states that the search for better conditions is part of the impulse toward self-preservation and progress. For this reason, working, improving life, and fulfilling one's duties remain important. The difference lies in not treating temporary difficulties as though they were a person's final destiny.

The work does not condemn the pleasures and possessions of earthly life. The problem would be excess and attachment when they harm moral development. Someone who believes in the continuation of life can face a material loss without feeling that everything has been lost; someone who considers only the present life runs a greater risk of placing all hope in what is temporary.

7. For Kardec, Spiritism broadens this way of looking at existence. The present life would be only one part of a much larger journey. The Doctrine connects the different existences of the same Spirit and presents all beings as participants in a broad process of evolution.

According to the work, this view helps us understand universal fraternity: people would not be beings without connection to one another, but parts of the same whole. Kardec states that this perspective could not be fully understood in the time of Jesus and, for this reason, would be developed later.

Instructions from the Spirits

An earthly kingship

A queen of France - Le Havre, 1863

8. In this message attributed to a former queen of France, the Spirit says that after death she understood the meaning of Jesus' words: “My kingdom is not of this world.” She recognizes that the pride connected with her social position harmed her and that she took none of the privileges she had as queen with her.

The message describes her surprise at finding, in a spiritual condition higher than her own, people she had considered unimportant because they did not belong to the nobility. The experience is presented as a lesson about the small value of honors and social positions after death.

According to this message, what prepares a person for a better spiritual condition is not social position, but qualities such as humility, detachment, charity, and kindness toward everyone.

The message states that, in the spiritual world, what matters is not the office someone held, but the good they did and the suffering they helped relieve. Power, wealth, and prestige would not guarantee an elevated spiritual condition. The difficulties of life, when faced with moral growth, could teach more than material privileges.

Finally, the message reminds us that material possessions cannot be kept forever. It recommends having compassion for those who are still attached to this illusion and also helping them through prayer, presented as a way of drawing closer to God and creating a connection between earthly and spiritual life.