Text
The Spirit is a flame, a
gleam, an ethereal spark
1. Consulted by Kardec
if the Spirits have
determinate,
circumscribed, and
unvarying form, the
Spirits of High Degree
answered: “Not for eyes
such as yours; but, for
us, they have a form
though one only to be
vaguely imagined by you
as a flame a gleam, or
an ethereal spark.”
(SB., 88).
Following, complementing
on the subject, they say
that this flame or gleam
would appear to our eyes
to vary from a dull grey
to the brilliancy of the
ruby, according to the
degree of the spirit's
purity.
2. We can see, by those
explanations, which the
Spirits looked to
establish a comparison,
though a pale one, of
what exists in the
Spiritual plan, as to
the form and color of
the Spirits, with the
limitations of our
physical world and our
sense.
3. We clearly understand
these Spiritist
teachings that the
Spirits have form and
color, but we can barely
compare to the form and
color that we, as
incarnated beings, are
used to observe.
4. Gabriel Delanne says:
“Science teaches us that
our senses allow us to
feel a minor part of
nature, but, beyond the
limits imposed on our
sensations, there are
subtle vibrations, in an
infinite number, which
constitute modes of
existence that we have
no idea, for the lack of
words to express” (The
Spiritist Phenomenon, p.
213).
There can be no division
of any given spirit
5. According to Delanne,
the soul watches, this
way, spectacles it
cannot describe, hears
harmonies that no human
ear has ever experienced
and moves in complete
opposition to the
conditions of Earth.
“The Spirit free from
the body does not need
to eat, not to drag
itself on the soil: the
matter which it is
formed allows it to
transport itself to the
farthest places as quick
as a lightning, and,
according to their
degree of moral
advancement, its
spiritual occupations
are more or less the
same it had on Earth.”
(Obra citada.)
6. Questioned if the
Spirits have the gift of
ubiquity (1),
in other words, if a
spirit can divide
itself, or exist at
several points of space
at the same time, the
immortals said: “There
can be no division of
any given spirit; but
every spirit is a centre
which radiates in all
directions, and it is
thus that a spirit may
appear to be in several
places at once. The sun
is only one body, yet it
radiates in all
directions, and sends
out its rays to great
distances; but it is not
divided.”
(SB, 92).
7. We observe then that
the Spirits are
indivisible and
constitute a unity that
cannot be fractionated.
They can be felt in more
than one place through
its power of
irradiation, which can
be bigger or smaller,
according to their
degree of purity. We
learn from this that a
phenomenon many times
verified, in which is
registered the presence
of High Spirits in
several places at the
same time.
8. The phenomenon of
ubiquity keeps, somehow,
relation to the
phenomenon of
bi-corporeity. As we
know, disengaged from
the body, the Spirit can
show himself just as
well as that of one who
has departed this life,
and with all the
appearance of reality;
and may even, through
the means already
described, acquire a
momentary tangibility.
This is the phenomenon
designated as
bi-corporeity, which has
given rise to the
stories of doubles, that
is to say, of
individuals who have
been proved to have been
simultaneously present
in two different places.
(Read more on “The
Mediums’ Book”, item
119.)
The power of radiation
depends on the degree of
their purity
9.
The phenomenon of
bi-corporeity happens
when the Spirit is
incarnated. If the
person is asleep, or
partially disengaged
from his body, his
Spirit can, appear, talk
and even become
tangible.
10. In such cases, if
the phenomenon is
authentic, we can prove
that the person was
indeed in two places at
the same time, but in
one place was his
material body and in the
other the Spirit covered
by its perispirit.
11. In the phenomenon of
ubiquity, as we said
before, the Spirit does
not divide itself to be
in two different places.
It radiates in all
directions and it is
thus that a spirit may
appear to be in several
places at once, without
having fractioned
itself. It is thus that
a spark sends out its
brightness far and wide,
and may be perceived
from every point of the
horizon.
12. The more evolved is
the Spirit; bigger is
its power of radiation,
more powerful will be
his gift of relative
ubiquity. As well as in
bi-corporeity as in
ubiquity, we see that
the perispirit plays a
major role, which shows
to be indispensable, a
greater knowledge about
this, object of study of
countless books, such as
Evolution in Two
Worlds, by André
Luiz, and The Animic
Revolution, by
Gabriel Delanne.
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