In this issue we continue the study of the book Posthumous Works, published after Allan Kardec disembodied and containing texts written by him. The present work is based on the translation made by Dr. Guillon Ribeiro, published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation.
Questions for discussion
51. Do tangible apparitions occur often?
52. What is a transfiguration?
53. While the body is asleep, does the soul sleep too?
54. When the Spirit moves away from the body, how do they communicate?
55. In what circumstances do the independence and the emancipation of the soul become most evident?
56. When the soul frees itself from the body and acts at a distance, does the disconnection cause the inertia of the body?
57. Is the stage of ecstasy the highest degree of emancipation of the soul?
58. Are there people in whom the disconnection of the soul occurs with difficulty?
59. Can the Spirit of someone embodied appear to other people?
Answers to the proposed questions
51. Do tangible apparitions occur often?
No, they are very rare, but vaporous apparitions are frequent and occur mainly at the moment of death. It seems that the disconnected Spirit wants to rush to see his relatives and friends again, as if to warn them that he is leaving this Earth, and to let them know that he goes on living. (Posthumous Works, Visual Manifestations).
52. What is a transfiguration?
The perispirit of the embodied has the same qualities of the Spirits. As previously said, he in no way is limited by the body, but irradiates and forms around it, a kind of a fluidic atmosphere; and it may occur that, in certain cases, and under the same circumstances, he goes through a change. The material and real form of the body may vanish and he may momentarily express himself in a different way, and show a totally different appearance, even of someone else, or of the Spirit that combines its fluid with the fluid of the other person, or change an ugly face into beautiful and radiant features. This phenomenon is called transfiguration, and it occurs quite often, especially when the circumstances cause a higher expansion of fluids. Transfiguration can manifest itself with a very different intensity according to the degree of pureness of the perispirit that corresponds to the degree of moral improvement of the Spirit. Sometimes, it is limited to a simple change of features, but it can also give the perispirit a splendid and luminous appearance. (Posthumous Works, Transfiguration).
53. While the body is asleep, does the soul sleep too?
No, only the body rests while sleeping. The Spirit does not sleep and while the body is resting, he takes advantage of this moment, while is presence is not necessary, to act separately and go where it wishes. He then enjoys his freedom and full faculties. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
54. When the Spirit moves away from the body, how do they communicate?
During his life, the Spirit never is completely separated from the body. No matter the distance, he is always connected to the body through a fluidic loop that is used to call him, if his presence becomes necessary. This loop or tie is only broken at the time of death. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
55. In what circumstances do the independence and the emancipation of the soul become most evident?
This mainly occurs with the phenomenon of natural or magnetic somnambulism or sleep-walking, during the state of catalepsy and in lethargy. The somnambulistic lucidity is only the capacity that the soul has of seeing and feeling without the help of the physical organs. This faculty is one of its attributes; it is found in all its being; the physical organs are the limited channels that allow him certain perceptions. The vision at distance, which certain sleep-walkers have, is caused by the displacement of the soul, which sees what is going on at the places to where it carries itself. When wandering, it is always accompanied by its perispirit, agent of its sensations, but never totally disconnected from the body, as previously mentioned. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
56. When the soul frees itself from the body and acts at a distance, does the disconnection cause the inertia of the body?
Yes, sometimes the body seems to be without life and does not totally enjoy its normal activity; there is always an absorption, a disconnection more or less complete regarding the earthly things; the body does not sleep; it walks, operates, but the eyes look without seeing; it is evident that the soul is somewhere else. In the same manner as in somnambulism, the soul sees things that are absent. It has perceptions and feelings unknown to us: sometimes it has a prior awareness of certain future events through the connection it sees with the things of the present. Entering the invisible world, it sees the Spirits with which he can talk to, and he can transmit their thoughts to us. The soul’s emancipation sometimes dampens the physical sensations almost producing a real numbness, which when in the frenzy of exaltation, can make it support with indifference the strongest pains. This numbness is caused by the detachment of the perispirit, agent that transmits the physical sensations, since the absent Spirit does not feel the bodily wounds. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
57. Is the stage of ecstasy the highest degree of emancipation of the soul?
Yes, in a dream and in the state of somnambulism, the soul wanders in the earthly worlds. While in the state of ecstasy, it enters an unknown world of the ethereal Spirits with which it communicates, however, without exceeding certain limits, because if it passes these limits, the ties that connect it to the physical body would break completely. In ecstasy the annihilation of the body is almost complete; there is only the organic life and it can be felt that the soul is only linked with the body by a string, which any stronger effort would break it with no return. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
58. Are there people in whom the disconnection of the soul occurs with difficulty?
Yes, there are people, whose perispirit is in such a way identified with the body, that the disconnection of the soul only occurs with great difficulty, even at the moment of death; in general, it happens to those who live a more material life; it also occurs with those that have a difficult death, full of long and painful anguish; on the contrary, there are others, whose soul is linked to the body by ties so thin that the separation happens with no suffering, very easily and often before the death of the body. When the end of life approaches, the soul already foresees the world to where it is going to, and wishes for a total freedom. (Posthumous Works, Emancipation of the Soul).
59. Can the Spirit of someone embodied appear to other people?
Yes, the ability the soul has to become free and its capacity to leave the body while it is asleep, can give place to phenomena similar to those of the disembodied Spirits. While the body is asleep, and the Spirit carries itself to several places, it can become visible and appear under a vaporous form, be it in a dream, or even awake. And it can also present itself in a tangible form, or at least with an appearance so similar to reality, that many people can truly say that it was seen at the same time in different places. This phenomenon is very rare and it was what gave place to the “double men” belief. The name of this is “bicorpority”. (Posthumous Works, Apparitions of the Alive and Bicorpority).
