425. Is there any connection between natural somnambulism and dreaming?

"In somnambulism the independence of the soul is more complete, and its functions are more developed, than in dreaming, and it has perceptions that it has not in dreaming, which is an imperfect somnambulism.

"In somnambulism, the spirit is entirely freed from the action of matter; the material organs, being in a sort of catalepsy, are no longer receptive of external impressions.

"This state most frequently occurs during sleep, because the spirit is then able to absent itself from the body which is given up to the repose that is indispensable to matter. When somnambulism occurs, it is because the spirit of the sleeper, intent upon doing something or other that requires the aid of his body, makes use of it in a manner analogous to that in which spirits make use of a table, or other material object, in producing the phenomena of physical manifestations, or of a human hand, in giving written communications. In the dreams of which a man is conscious, his organs, including those of memory, are beginning to awaken; and, as they only receive and transmit to the spirit imperfectly the impressions made on them by exterior objects or action, the spirit, who is then in a state of repose, only perceives these impressions through confused and often disconnected sensations, which, in many cases, are still further confused by being mingled with vague remembrances of his present life and anterior existences. It is easy, therefore, to understand why somnambulists do not remember their visions, and why the greater number of the dreams you remember have no rational meaning. I say the greater number, for it sometimes happens that dreams are the consequence of a precise remembrance of events that have occurred in one of your former lives, or even a sort of intuition of the future."

426. Is there any connection between what is called mesmeric somnambulism and natural somnambulism?

"They are the same thing; the only difference between them being that one of them is

artificially produced."

427. What is the nature of the agent called the magnetic or mesmeric fluid?

"It is the vital fluid, animalised electricity; a modification of the universal fluid."

428. What is the nature of somnambulic clairvoyance?

"We have told you that it is soul-sight."

429. How can the somnambulist see through opaque bodies?

"It is only to your gross organs that bodies are opaque. Have we not told you that matter is not an obstacle for a spirit, since he passes freely through it? A somnambulist often tells you that he sees through his forehead, his knee, etc., because you, being plunged in matter, do not understand that he can see without the help of organs. He himself, influenced by your ideas, believes that he needs those organs; but, if you left him to himself, he would understand that he sees through every part of his body, or rather, that he sees independently of his body."

430. Since the clairvoyance of the somnambulist is that of his soul or of his spirit, why does he not see everything, and why does he so often make mistakes?

"In the first place, spirits of low degree do not see and comprehend everything, for, as you know, they still share your errors and your prejudices; and, in the next place, as long as they remain more or less attached to matter, they have not the use of all their spirit-faculties. God has given the faculty of clairvoyance to man for a serious and useful purpose, and not to inform him of what it is not permitted to him to know; and this is why somnambulists do not know everything."

431 What is the source of the somnambulist’s innate ideas, and how can he speak correctly of things of which he is ignorant in his waking state, and which are even above his intellectual capacity?

"A somnambulist may possess more knowledge than you give him credit for; but this knowledge is latent in his waking state, because his envelope is too imperfect for him to be able to remember all he knows as a spirit. But, in point of fact, what is he? Like all of us, he is a spirit who has been incarnated in matter for the accomplishment of his mission, and his going into the somnambulic state rouses him from the lethargy of incarnation. We have repeatedly told you that we re-live many times. It is this changing of our existences that causes him to lose sight, in a new connection with matter, of what he may have known in a preceding one. On entering into the state which you call a crisis, he recalls what he has formerly known, but not always with completeness. He knows, but he cannot tell whence he derives his knowledge, nor in what way he possesses it. The crisis over, his reminiscences fade from his consciousness, and he re-enters the obscurity of corporeal life."

Experience shows us that somnambulists also receive communications from other spirits, who tell them what they are to say, and supply what is lacking on their part. This supplementing of their insufficiency is often and especially witnessed in medical consultations; the spirit of the clairvoyant seeing the malady, and another spirit indicating the remedy required. This double action is often patent to bystanders, and is also frequently revealed by such expressions on the part of the somnambulist as, "I am told to say," or, "I am forbidden to say," etc. In the latter case, it is always dangerous to persist in the effort to obtain a revelation refused by the clairvoyant, because, by doing so, we open the door to frivolous and unscrupulous spirits, who prate about everything without any regard to veracity.

432. How do you explain the power of seeing at a distance possessed by some

somnambulists?

"Does not the soul transport itself to a distance during sleep? It does the same thing in somnambulism."

433. Does the greater or less degree of somnambulic clairvoyance depend on the physical organisation of the body, or on the nature of the spirit incarnated in it?

"On both; but there are physical qualities that allow the spirit to liberate himself more or less easily from matter,"

434. Are the faculties enjoyed by the somnambulist the same as those possessed by the spirit after death?

"They are the same, but only up to a certain point; for you have to take into account the influence of the matter to which he is still attached."

435. Can somnambulists see other spirits?

"That depends on the nature and degree of their faculties. The greater number of them see other spirits perfectly well, but they do not always recognise them at once as being such, and thus mistake them for corporeal beings; a mistake that is often made by somnambulists, and especially by those among them who know nothing of spiritism. Not understanding anything of the essence of spirits, they are astonished at seeing them in human form, and suppose them to be living persons."

The same effect is produced at the moment of death in the consciousness of those who suppose themselves to be still living. Nothing about them appears to them to be changed. The spirits around them seem to have bodies like ours, and they take the appearance of their own body to be that of a real body of flesh.

436. When a somnambulist sees objects at a distance, does he see them with his body or with his soul?

"Why should you ask such a question, since it is the soul that sees, and not the body?"

437. Since it is the soul that transports itself to a distance, how is it that the somnambulist feels in his body the sensation of the heat or the cold of the place where his soul is, and which is sometimes very far from the place where his body is?

"His soul has not entirely quitted his body, to which it is still attached by the link which

unites them together; it is this link that is the conductor of sensation. When two persons in two different cities correspond with each other by electricity, it is the electricity that constitutes the link between their thoughts, and enables them to communicate with one another as though they were close together."

438. Is the state of the somnambulist influenced after death by the use he has made of his faculty?

"Very considerably; as is done by the good or bad use of all the faculties that God has given to man."