How is the
perispirit
formed?
Moreover,
how does the
perispirit
act in
relation to
the physical
body?
“... Spirits are coated
with a vaporous
envelope, which forms a
true fluidic body, which
we call “perispirit”,
and its elements are
taken from the universal
or cosmic fluid, the
principle of all things.
When the Spirit joins a
body, it lives there
with its perispirit,
which serves as a link
between the Spirit
itself and corporeal
matter: it is the
intermediary of the
sensations perceived by
the Spirit. However,
this perispirit is not
confined to the body, as
in a box. Due to its
fluidic nature, it
externally radiates the
steam that is released
from it. Nevertheless,
the vapor given off by
an unhealthy body is
equally unhealthy, acrid
and nauseating, which
infects the air where
many unhealthy people
congregate. Just as this
vapor is impregnated
with the qualities of
the body, the perispirit
is impregnated with the
qualities, i.e., the
thought of the Spirit
and radiates such
qualities around the
body” (my emphasis).
Allan Kardec responds to
a very interesting
objection that was
presented to the
spiritist theory, in
1862, regarding the
state of the soul.
Interestingly, nowadays,
some have made a similar
objection to the work of
Andre Luiz. Let us see
the Encoder’s
explanation of the
apparent
“materialization of the
spiritual world”:
Does Spiritism
materialize the soul and
the spiritual world?
“They accuse him of
materializing the soul,
whereas, according to
religion, the soul is
purely immaterial. Like
most others, this
objection springs from
incomplete and
superficial study.
Spiritism never defined
the nature of the soul,
which escapes our
investigations. It does
not say that the
perispirit constitutes
the soul: the word
“perispirit” positively
says the opposite, as it
specifies an envelope
around the Spirit. What
about The Book of
Spirits? “There are
three things in man: the
“soul” or Spirit, an
intelligent principle;
the “body”, material
envelope; the
“perispirit”,
semi-material fluidic
envelope, serving as a
link between the Spirit
and the body”. Moreover,
because, with the death
of the body, the soul
preserves the fluidic
envelope, it does not
say that this envelope
and the soul are one and
the same thing, since
the body is not one with
the clothes or the soul
does not unite with the
body. The Spiritist
Doctrine takes nothing
away from the
immateriality of the
soul: it only gives it
two coverings, instead
of one, during the
corporeal life and only
one after the death of
the body, which is, not
a hypothesis, but a
result of observation.
And it is with the help
of this envelope that
its individuality is
better understood and
its action on matter is
better explained”
(emphasis added).
How does the perispirit
transmit the Spirit's
thought?
“Due to its fluidic
nature, essentially
mobile and elastic, so
to speak, as a direct
agent of the Spirit, the
perispirit is put into
action and projects rays
by the will of the
Spirit. By these rays it
serves the transmission
of thought, because in a
certain way it is
animated by the thought
of the Spirit. Since the
perispirit is the bond
that unites the Spirit
to the body, it is
through it that the
Spirit transmits to the
organs, not the
vegetative life, but the
movements that express
its will; and through
him that the sensations
of the body are
transmitted to the
Spirit. Once the solid
body is destroyed by
death, the spirit no
longer acts and
perceives only through
its fluidic body, or
perispirit. That is why
it acts more easily and
perceives better, since
the body is an obstacle.
All this is still the
result of observation.”
(emphasis mine)
How does the meeting
between two people who
are nice happen,
perispiritually? In
addition, between two
people who are
unfriendly?
“... Let us now suppose
two people nearby, each
one involved by his
“perispiritual”
atmosphere. Let the
neologism pass. These
two fluids come into
contact and penetrate
each other. If they are
of a sympathetic nature,
they interpenetrate; if
of an unsympathetic
nature, they repel each
other and the
individuals will feel a
kind of malaise, without
realizing it; if, on the
contrary, they are moved
by feelings of
benevolence, they will
have a benevolent
thought, which attracts. That
is why two people
understand each other
and guess each other
without speaking.
Sometimes, a certain
something says that the
person we are facing is
animated by this or that
feeling. Well, this
certain something is the
expansion of the
perispiritual fluid of
the person in contact
with us, a kind of
electrical wire that
conducts thought...". (emphasis
mine)
Can the disembodied
Spirit influence the
incarnated Spirit by
projecting fluids onto
it, like someone who
throws a liquid or any
product at someone?
“The perispiritual fluid
of the incarnated person
is activated by the
Spirit. If, by his
will, the Spirit, so
to speak, throws rays at
another individual, the
rays penetrate him.
Hence the more or less
powerful magnetic
action, depending on the
will, more or less
beneficial, depending on
whether the rays are of
a better or worse
nature, more or less
vivifying. Because they
can, by their action,
penetrate the organs
and, in certain cases,
restore the normal
state. The importance of
the influence of the
magnetizer's moral
qualities is known.
What an incarnated
Spirit can do, by
pouring its own fluid
over a person, can
also be done by a
disincarnated one, as
long as it has the same
fluid. In this way he
can magnetize and, being
good or bad, his action
will be beneficial or
harmful”. (emphasis
mine)
Can the good or bad
environment, from a
spiritual point of view,
influence the
individual? How does
this happen?
“...we easily realize
the nature of the
impressions we receive,
according to the
environment where we
find ourselves. If a
meeting is composed of
people of bad feelings,
they fill the ambient
air with the fluid
impregnated with their
thoughts. Hence, for
good souls, a moral
malaise analogous to the
physical malaise caused
by mephitic exhalations:
“the soul is
asphyxiated”. If, on the
contrary, people have
pure intentions, we find
in their atmosphere a
kind of vivifying and
wholesome air.
Naturally, the effect
will be the same in an
environment full of
spirits, whether they
are good or bad. This
well understood we
arrive without
difficulty at the
material action of
errant spirits on
incarnates. And from
there, to the
explanation of
mediumship”. (emphasis
mine)
How is the influence of
a disembodied Spirit on
an incarnated Spirit?
“If a Spirit wants to
act on a person, he
approaches him, wraps
him with his perispirit,
like a mantle; the
fluids penetrate each
other, the two thoughts
and the two wills come
together and, then,
the Spirit can use that
body as if it were his
own, makes it act at
will, speak, write,
draw, etc. So are
mediums. If the Spirit
is good, his action will
be smooth and beneficial
and he will only do good
things; if he is bad, he
will do bad things; if
he is perverse and bad,
he constrains him, until
he paralyzes will and
reason, which he
smothers with his
fluids, as a fire is
extinguished under a
sheet of water. It makes
him think, speak, and
act for him; it drives
him against his will to
extravagant acts and the
individual becomes a
blind instrument of his
will. Such is the cause
of obsession,
fascination and
subjugation, which show
themselves in different
degrees of intensity”. (emphasis
mine)
Allan Kardec, until that
moment, did not use the
expression “possession”,
due to its “demonic”
connotation, at least
for a large part of the
population at the time,
and because this
expression would convey
an idea, in principle
mistaken, that the
Spirit obsessor would be
a “possessor”, that is,
a “total owner”, of the
obsessed Spirit.
However, Kardec starts
to use the expression to
characterize a very
advanced degree of
subjugation, in which
the harassing Spirit has
a high control over the
body of the obsessed,
with many organic
repercussions,
characterizing the
so-called "physical
obsession", which often
causes a certain
“transfiguration” of the
possessed. Such a state
tends to generate
several consequences,
especially when such a
state is maintained for
too long. It is worth
checking, therefore,
what is possession for
Allan Kardec. The
Encoder explains this in
the following snippet:
“...The paroxysm of
subjugation is generally
called “possession”.
It should be noted that,
in this state, the
individual is often
aware of the
ridiculousness of what
he is doing, but is
constrained to do it, as
if a man more vigorous
than he were doing,
against his will, moving
his arms, legs , the
tongue". (emphasis
mine)
Do the obsessing spirits
start to act on the
incarnated spirits due
to the evocations that
the incarnates may
address to them?
“Do you believe
that the bad spirits,
which swarm in the human
environment, wait to be
called, in order to
exert their pernicious
influence? Since spirits
have existed in all
times, they have played
the same role in all
times, as this is in
their nature. And the
proof is the large
number of people
obsessed, or possessed,
if you like, before
Spiritism and mediums
were considered. The
action of good or bad
spirits is therefore
spontaneous. That of the
wicked produces a lot of
disturbances in the
moral and even physical
economy and which,
through ignorance of the
true cause, are
attributed to wrong
causes. Bad spirits are
invisible enemies, all
the more dangerous as
their action is not
suspected. By uncovering
them, Spiritism comes to
reveal a new cause of
certain ills in Humanity. Once
the cause is known, one
will no longer seek to
combat evil by means
that, we now know, are
useless: other, more effective
means will be sought.” (emphasis
mine)
(This article continues
in the next issue.)
References:
Kardec,
A. The Obsession –
Origin, symptons and
cures [Translated by
Wallace Leal V.
Rodrigues]. Publisher
“O Clarim”. Sixth edition.
2000.
Kardec,
A. Spiritist
Magazine (Fifth year
– 1862) [Salvador
Gentile Translated by
Salvador Gentile]. Spiritist
Diffusion Institute
(IDE). First edition.
Kardec,
A. Spiritist Magazine
(Fifth Year – 1862)
[Translation by Salvador
Gentile]. Spiritist
Diffusion Institute
(IDE). First edition.
1993.
Kardec.
A. Spiritist Magazine
(Sixth Year – 1863)
[Translation by Salvador
Gentile]. Spiritist
Diffusion Institute
(IDE). Second edition.
2002.