The union of the soul
with the body
We know today that the
union of the soul to the
body begins at
conception, but is only
complete at the time of
birth, but this was not
the information conveyed
in the work of Kardec's
codification in the
early years of Spiritism
This article is a brief
view of the development
of spiritual union
between the soul and
body. We present an
overview on the history
of the doctrine; getting
information that might
help the scholars of
Spiritism.
1857
Spiritism was
born in 1857,
with the
publication of
The Spirits’
Book of Allan
Kardec.
With 501
numbered items (and
hundreds of sub
items), divided
into three parts,
the first
edition of this
book presented
the following
text on the
subject:
"Question 86 -
In that time
does the soul
joins the body?
"At
birth."
- Before the
birth the child
has a soul?
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"No."
- How do they
live then?
"As the
plants do." |
Follow the comments of
Allan Kardec on this
item:
"The
spirit or soul joins the
body at the time the
child sees the light and
breathe. Before the
birth the child has only
organic life without
soul. She lives as the
plants, only the blind
instinct of conservation,
common in all living
beings. "
At
the beginning Spiritism
says that the union of
spirit with the body is
at birth. In the uterus
the child lives the life
of plants, as we read in
the above quote.
1860
A
change occurs in the
second edition of The
Spirits' Book, published
in 1860, with regards to
that.
"
Question 344. In what
time does the soul joins
the body?
"The union begins
at conception, but is
only complete at the
time of birth. From the
moment of conception,
the spirit inhabiting a
body designated for this
is bound by a fluidic
tie, which is
increasingly tightening
till the moment when the
child sees the light.
The baby’s cry announces
that now it belongs to
the living and is one of
the servants of God. "
Here
the union does not start
at birth, but it is
complete then. It is the
conception that marks
the beginning of this
union.
The
spirits speak of a
fluidic tie that binds
the body and the soul
and it is always
tightening. This is the
established thesis that
we see in other works,
and in 1868 is developed
in greater detail.
Everything leads us to
believe that the changed
theory first appeared in
the second edition of
the cited work. We
cannot guarantee it
because we do not have
their first editions of
the works shown in the
second thesis, published
before 1860. All issues
that the group has
access are after the
year of 1860. The only
example is the March
1858 issue of the
"Spiritist Journal:
Journal of Psychological
Studies."
1858
In
this copy we find the
evocation of a spirit
known as Dr. Xavier. He
was asked several
"Psychophysiological”
questions.
The
introduction of this
article is as follows:
"A
physician (doctor) of
great talent, who we
call by the name of
Xavier, which died a few
months ago and had been
very busy with
magnetism, left a
manuscript, which were
supposed to
revolutionize science.
Before dying had read
The Book of Spirits and
had the desired contact
the author but the
disease that took him
did not allowed him to
do so. His evocation was
made at the request of
his family, and his
answers were so
instructive that they
led us to include them
in this collection, but
removing all that was of
particular interest. "
Throughout the
conversation between
Allan Kardec with this
Spirit we read the
following:
"24.
Q. – At what time does
the union between soul
and body happens in
children?
A. -
When the child breathes,
as if he/she got the
soul with the air
outside.
25.
Q. - How then do you
explain the intrauterine
life?
R. -
As the plant that
vegetates. The child
lives his animal life."
This
answer is from the first
edition, published the
previous year. In
another response the
Spirit gives more
details of this process:
"29.
Q. – Is the union
between soul and body
instant or gradual? That
is, does it require a
considerable time for
this union to complete?
R. -
The Spirit does not come
suddenly in the body. To
measure this time,
imagine that the first
breath that the child
receives is that the
soul enters the body:
the time that the chest
rises and lowers it."
However, at the end of
the dialogue, Allan
Kardec makes the
following note:
"The
theory given by the
Spirit on the moment of
union between the soul
and the body is not
accurate. The union
starts from conception,
that is, from the moment
the Spirit, without
being incarnated,
connects to the body by
a fluidic tie, which is
tightening more and
more, until the birth.
The incarnation is only
complete when the child
breathes (See The
Spirits' Book, paragraph
344 and following)."
Obviously this note came
after the publication of
the second edition of
The Spirits’ Book, as
the item 344, quoted by
Allan Kardec, only deals
with this theme in the
1860 edition.
It
occurs that the 12
copies of the annual
review were bound in one
volume and sold later.
The binding volume at
our disposal dates
1863.
1859
We
must cite another
example of further
editing showing this
change. The book "What
is Spiritism?" is a work
from 1859, but we only
have its second edition
which was published in
the following year,
1860.
The
text of this issue:
"116
- How and when does the
union between soul and
body happen?
Since the conception the
Spirit, even when
wandering, connects to
the body that must
become by a fluidic tie.
This link is
increasingly close as
the body grows. Since
that time, the Spirit is
taken from a disturbance
that will grow without
ceasing, in the vicinity
of the birth the
disturbance is complete,
the spirit loses
consciousness of himself
and only recover his
ideas gradually from the
moment the child breathe.
It is then that the
union is complete and
final."
Here
the established thesis
is presented. Let us
know if it was added in
1860, or is already
present in the work in
1859.
Something worthy of note
is that “the Spirit,
even when wandering,
connects to the body
that must become by a
fluidic tie” eg: Even
with this initial union,
the spirit is still in
erraticity or wandering,
the spirit is still in
the world of spirits.
Something interesting in
The Spirits' Book of
1860 is that the item 86
of the first edition is
not entirely discarded.
The idea is redeveloped
in a new item:
"354. How do you explain
intrauterine life?
"It's like a plant that
vegetates. The child
lives an animal life.
The man has a vegetative
life and an animal life
that, at birth, form the
spiritual life."
In
the edition of 1857, the
spirits respond to Allan
Kardec that the soul
joins the body at birth.
Before that, the child
has no soul. It lives
"as the plants."
In
1860, the spirits change
their argument. Now is
not the life of the
plant, but the child
lives an “animal life”
and through birth begins
to live a spiritual
life. An answer that
that fits more to the
final thesis, presented
in Section 344 of the
same book. The spiritual
life occurs when the
union is complete. When?
At birth.
Going
back to 1860
Still in 1860, we find
in the Spiritist
Magazine of July an
observation that gives
details about the final
thesis on the union of
soul and body.
Allan Kardec makes this
observation when he
published the evocation
of Mrs. Duret, "psychography
medium, killed on the
1st of May 1860, in
Setif, Algeria. First
invoked in the home of
Mr. Allan Kardec, on
21st of May and then on
the 25th in the
Spiritist Society."
Observation:
"It
is known that at the
time of conception, the
designated spirit to
inhabit the body for
that birth should be
taken by a disturbance
that will grow as the
fluidic ties that unite
the field, is tighten up
by the vicinity of
birth. At this time, the
spirit loses all
awareness and only
begins to retrieve the
ideas at the time the
child breathes. Only
then it becomes a
complete and definitive
union between the spirit
and body."
In
1861, Allan Kardec
publishes "The Book of
Mediums: Guide for
Mediums and evocators."
The chapter 25, entitled
"Evocations", presents
the following item:
"51st - Can one evoke a
spirit whose body still
attached to the mother?
"No,
you know at that time
the Spirit is in
complete disturbance."
Note. The incarnation
only becomes finalized
when the child breathes,
but since the conception
of the body, the
designated Spirit to
animate it is stuck in a
disturbance that
increases as the birth
approaches and it clouds
its awareness and
therefore they are
unable to respond.
Here
we see that, although
the reincarnation is not
definitive, the spirit
experiences a
disturbance that is
intensifying up to the
birth.
1864
In
1864, in The Gospel
according to Spiritism,
St. Augustine seems to
show a variation of the
argument:
"Finally, after years of
meditation and prayer,
the Spirit takes
advantage of a body in
preparation in a family
of someone who he hated,
and asks the spirits
responsible for
transmitting the orders
from above, the
permission to go and
fulfil the fate of the
body just formed on
earth."
Here
the reincarnating spirit
seems to be searching a
body. At the beginning
of the quoted text, we
could say that the body
in preparation was not
conceived yet. It would
be about to become,
indicated by the desire
of the parents that the
conception would happen
soon. However the end of
the sentence makes the
idea clear: the body
"has just being formed”
and the spirit asks for
permission to fill it.
This
does not overturn the
previous argument, is
only another starting
point for the union.
This variant is not
found in any other work
of Allan Kardec.
1868
Finally, the year of
1868, with the
publication of "The
Genesis: The Miracles
and Predictions
according to the
Spiritism", we see a
more detailed
explanation of the
object of the first part
of our text: the union
of soul with the body:
"18th - When the Spirit
must be incarnate in a
human body in its
developing stages, a
fluidic tie, which is
only an expansion of the
perispirit, attaches the
spirit to the germ on
which it is attracted to
by an irresistible force
since the moment of
conception. As the
embryo develops, the tie
is tightened, under the
influence of the vital
principle of the
material germ, the
perispirit, which has
certain properties of
matter, unify molecule
by molecule with the
body being formed; where
we can say that the
Spirit, through its
perispirit, take in some
way to root this germ,
as a plant on earth.
When the seed is fully
developed, the union is
complete, then he comes
to live outside".
In
this detail of the
argument we see the use
of terms that, even in
the set of spiritists
ideas, only now are used
to complete the
explanation. Remember.
The Spirit connects
through a fluidic tie
that is tightened up to
the birth and that it is
a complete union with
the matter. The Spirit
goes into a disturbance
in which it loses
consciousness of itself.
It is with the birth he
recovers some spiritual
awareness.
Now
we are able to answer
some questions.
1.
What is this fluidic
tie?
It
is an expansion of the
perispirit.
2.
What does this tie do?
Attaches the Spirit to
the germ on which it is
attracted to by an
irresistible force from
the moment of conception.
3.
How does this union
happen?
It
happens by the
unification of Molecule
to molecule.
4.
Why is this molecular
union possible?
This
union is possible
because the perispirit
has certain properties
of matter.
5.
What makes this union be
complete?
The
union is complete by the
full development of the
germ, that is, the total
formation of the body to
be used by the
incarnating spirit.
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