receiver. The more we give as givers, the more we will receive as
receivers. This depends on the will of the spirit to continue the path of
love or continue the path of egoism.
What other advances has the spirit achieved after overcoming the
stage of vanity?
I will make a general description of the achievements attained by the
spirits that have freed themselves considerably from vanity and find
themselves fully immersed in the pride stage, which stem from the fact
that we are now dealing with spirits that are connoisseurs of feeling,
secured as givers of love.
The concept of justice is more developed. The person who has
reached pride is more conscious of what is true and just and what is
purely appearance. In general, the proud behave more fairly, as they
no longer seek to favour themselves, if to do so they have to be unjust,
but rather in their decisions they take into consideration the harm that
this could bestow on others. The proud spirit no longer seeks to be
indulged but rather to be loved and also genuinely to love. The
opposite quality to vanity, which the proud have now attained, is
modesty, because they no longer seek to do things in order to attract
attention, but rather for the satisfaction of being just and generous. The
proud are generous with those whom they love. Therefore, in
relationships they no longer seek to be the centre of attention. They
prefer one genuine friendship to a hundred superficial ones.
Does this mean that if the proud are more spiritually advanced than
the vain, they also advance more rapidly?
No, because the speed of the advancement depends on the will and
the emphasis that the spirits place on detaching themselves from
egoism and on loving. There are proud spirits that have stopped in their
evolution, this stagnation being capable of lasting many lives, as well
as vain spirits that have a strong will to advance and progress rapidly.
Although it is certain that the greater knowledge and conscience with
regard to feelings makes the most advanced have more capacity to
advance and be more resolute in their will to advance, and suffer
more when they stagnate so that this unease also encourages them to
advance. Comparing advanced spirits that have many incarnations
on their shoulders with young and little advanced spirits is as ridiculous
as believing in the validity of the results of the same intelligence test on
a 7 year old child and a 15 year old adolescent. It is normal that, even
though the 7 year old may be very intelligent, the 15 year old will
obtain better results than the 7 year old, which would not have any
merit, since the 15 year old through being older, has had more time to