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133. Is incarnation necessary for the spirits who, from the beginning, have followed the right road?
"All are created simple and ignorant; they gain instruction in the struggles and tribulations of corporeal life. God, being just, could not make some of them happy, without trouble and without exertion, and consequently without merit."
-- But it so, what do spirits gain by having followed the right road, since they are not thereby exempted from the pains of corporeal life?
"They arrive more quickly at the goal. And besides, the sufferings of life are often a consequence of the imperfection of the spirit; therefore, the fewer his imperfections, the less will be his sufferings. He who is neither envious, jealous, avaricious, nor ambitious, will not have to undergo the torments which are a consequence of those defects."