134. What is the soul?

"An incarnate spirit."

 

– What was the soul before its union with a body?

"A spirit."

 

– Souls and spirits are, then, the very same thing?

"Yes; souls are only spirits. Before uniting itself with a body, the soul is one of the intelligent beings who people the invisible world, and who temporarily assume a fleshly body in order to effect their purification and enlightenment."

 

135. Is there in man anything else than a soul and a body?'

"There is the link which unites the soul and the body."

 

– What is the nature of that link?

"It is semi-material – that is to say, of a nature intermediate between soul and body, as it must necessarily be, in order that they may be enabled to communicate with each other. It is by means of this link that the spirit acts upon matter, and that matter acts reciprocally upon the spirit."

 

Man is thus formed of three essential elements or parts:–

1st. The body, or material being, analogous to the animals, and animated by the same vital principle;

2d. The soul, or incarnated spirit, of which the body is the habitation;

3d. The intermediary principle, or perispirit; a semi-material substance, which constitutes the innermost envelope of the spirit, and unites the soul with the body. This triplicity is analogous to that of the fruit, which consists of the germ, the perisperm, and the rind or shell.

 

136. is the soul independent of the vital principle?

"The body is only the envelope of the soul, as we have repeatedly told you."

 

– Can a body exist without a soul?

"Yes; but it is only when the body ceases to live that the soul quits it, Previous to birth, the union between the soul and the body is not complete; but, when this union is definitively established, it is only the death of the body that can sever the bonds that unite it to the soul, and thus allow the soul to withdraw from it. Organic life may vitalise a body without a soul, but the soul cannot inhabit a body deprived of organic life."

 

– What would our body be if it had no soul?

"A mass of flesh without intelligence; anything you choose to call it, excepting a man."

 

137. Can the same spirit incarnate itself in two different bodies at the same time?

"No; the spirit is indivisible, and cannot simultaneously animate two different beings." (Vide, in The Medium's Book, the chapter on Bi-corporeality and Transfiguration.)

 

138. What is to be thought of the opinion of those who regard the soul as being the principle of material life?

"That is a question of definition; we attach but slight importance to mere words. You should begin by agreeing among yourselves as to the exact meaning of the expressions you employ."

 

139. Certain spirits, and certain philosophers before them, have defined the soul as "An animated spark that has emanated from the Great Whole"; why this contradiction?'

"There is nothing contradictory in such a definition. Everything depends on the meaning you attribute to the words you use. Why have you not a word for each thing?"

 

The word soul is employed to express very different things. Sometimes it is used to designate the principle of life; and in this sense it is correct to say, figuratively, that the soul is an animated spark that has emanated from the Great Whole. These latter words designate the universal source of the vital principle, of which each being absorbs a portion, that returns to the general mass after its death. This idea does not

exclude that of a moral being, a distinct personality, independent of matter, and preserving its own individuality. It is this being which, at other times, is called of the soul, and it is in this sense that we speak of the soul as an incarnate spirit. In giving different definitions of soul, the spirits who have given them have spoken according to their various ways of applying that word, and also according to the terrestrial ideas

with which they are more or less imbued. This apparent confusion results from the insufficiency of human language, which does not possess a specific word for each idea; an insufficiency that gives rise to a vast number of misapprehensions and discussions. It is for this reason that the higher spirits tell us to begin by distinctly defining the meaning of the words we employ.[1]

 

140. What is to be thought of the theory according to which the soul is subdivided into as many parts as there are muscles in the body, and thus presides over each of the bodily functions?'

"That, again, depends on the meaning attached to the word soul. If by soul is meant the vital fluid, that theory is right; if the word is used to express an incarnate spirit, it is wrong. We have already told you that a spirit is indivisible; it transmits movement to the bodily organs through the intermediary fluids, but it undergoes no division."

 

– Nevertheless, there are spirits who have given this definition.

"Spirits who are ignorant may mistake the effect for the cause."

The soul acts through the intermediary of the bodily organs, and those organs are animated by the vital fluid which is distributed among them, and more abundantly in those which constitute the centres or foci of movement for each organism. But this explanation becomes inadmissible when the term soul is employed to designate the spirit which inhabits the body during life and quits it at death.

 

141. Is there any truth in the opinion of those who suppose that the soul is exterior to the body and environs it?

"The soul is not shut up in the body like a bird in a cage. It radiates in all directions, and manifests itself outside the body as a light radiates from a glass globe, or as  sound is propagated from a sonorous centre. In this sense the soul may be said to be exterior to the body, but it is not therefore to be considered as enveloping the body. The soul has two envelopes; the first, or innermost, of these, of a light and subtle nature, is what you call the perispirit the other, gross, material, heavy, is the body. The soul is the centre of both these envelopes, like the germ in the stone of the fruit, as we have already said."

 

142. What is to be thought of that other theory according to which the formation of the soul of the child is carried on to completion during the successive periods of the human lifetime?

"The spirit is a unit; and is as entire in the child as in the adult. It is only the bodily organs, or instruments of the manifestations of the soul, that are gradually developed and completed in the course of a lifetime. Here, again, you mistake the effect for the cause."

 

143. Why do not all spirits define the soul in the same way?

"All spirits are not equally enlightened in regard to these matters. Some spirits are still so little advanced intellectually as to be incapable of understanding abstract ideas; they are like children in your world. Other spirits are full of false learning, and make a vain parade of words in order to impose their authority upon those who listen to them. They, also, resemble too many in your world. And besides, even spirits who are really enlightened may express themselves in terms which appear to be different, but which, at bottom, mean the same thing, especially in regard to matters which your language is incapable of expressing clearly, and which can only be spoken of to you by means of figures and comparisons that you mistake for literal statements of fact."

 

144. What is to be understood by the soul of the world?

"The universal principle of life and intelligence from which individualities are produced. But, very often, they who make use of these terms do not know what they mean by them. The word soul is so elastic that every one interprets it according to his own imaginings. Certain persons have also attributed a soul to the earth, which must be understood as indicating the assemblage of devoted spirits who direct your actions in the right direction when you listen to them, and who are, as it were, the lieutenants of God in the administration of your globe."

 

145. How is it that so many philosophers, both ancient and modern, have so long been

discussing psychological questions without having arrived at the truth.'

"Those men were precursors of the eternal truths of the true spiritist doctrine, for which they have prepared the way. They were men, and therefore subject to error, because they often mistook their own ideas for the true light; but their very errors have served the cause of truth by bringing into relief both sides of the argument. Moreover, among those errors are to be found many great truths which a comparative study of the various theories thus put forth would enable you to discover."

 

146. Has the soul a circumscribed and determinate seat in the body?

"No; but it may be said to reside more especially in the head, in the case of men of great genius and of all who think much, and in the heart, in the case of those who feel much, and whose actions have always a humanitarian aim."

 

– What is to be thought of the opinion of those who place the soul in a centre of organic life?

"The spirit may be said to inhabit more especially such a part of your organism, because it is to such a part that all the sensations converge; but those who place it in what they consider to be the centre of vitality confound it with the vital fluid or principle. Nevertheless, it may be said that the soul is more especially present in the organs which serve for the manifestation of the intellectual and moral qualities."