Diversity of Human Races

52. What is the cause of the physical and moral differences that distinguish the various races

of men upon the earth?

"Climate, modes of life, and social habits. The same differences would be produced in the

case of two children of the same mother, if brought up far from one another, and surrounded by different influences and conditions; for the children thus diversely brought up would present no moral resemblance to each other."

53. Did the human race come into existence on various points of the globe?

"Yes, and at various epochs; and this is one of the causes of the diversity of human races. The

people of the primitive periods, being dispersed abroad in different climates, and forming

alliances with those of other countries than their own, gave rise perpetually to new types of

humanity."

- Do these differences constitute distinct species?

"Certainly not. All of them constitute but a single family. Do the differences between the

varieties of the same fruit prevent their all belonging to the same species."

54. If the human species do not all proceed from the same progenitor, should they, on that

account, cease to regard one another as brothers?

"All men are brothers in virtue of their common relation to the Creator, because they are

animated by the same spirit, and tend towards the same goal. The human mind is always

prone to attach too literal a meaning to statements which are necessarily imperfect and

incomplete."

From The Spirit's Book - Chapter III - Creation - Diversity of Human Races - Ed Federação Espírita Brasileira FEB