425- Does natural somnambulism have any connection to dreams? How can it be explained?
“It is a state of the soul in which its independence is more complete than in dreams; thus, its faculties are more unrestrained. The soul has perceptions that it does not attain in the dream state, which is actually a state of imperfect somnambulism.
“In somnambulism, the spirit is in total possession of itself, but the physical organs are in a sort of cataleptic state and no longer receive external impressions. This state manifests especially during sleep, the time during which the spirit can temporarily leave the body, while the body enjoys the repose that is indispensable to matter. When somnambulistic-related activity occurs, it is because the spirit is preoccupied with one thing or another that requires the physical body, which it then uses in the same way it would if it were to employ a table or other material object in the phenomena of physical manifestations, or a hand in written communications. In dreams that you are conscious of, the sensorial organs, including those related to memory, begin to awaken and imperfectly receive the impressions produced by objects or external causes, and communicate them to the spirit. The spirit, also in a state of repose, only perceives confused and often fragmentary sensations, which without any apparent reason are mixed in with vague memories of either the present life or previous ones. It is therefore easy to understand why somnambulists do not remember anything and why most of the time the dreams they do remember have no meaning. I say most of the time because sometimes dreams are the consequence of a precise memory of events of a previous life, and sometimes even a sort of intuition of the future.”
426- Does so-called magnetic somnambulism have any connection to natural somnambulism?
“It is the same thing with the difference that it is artificially induced.”
427- What is the nature of the agent called the magnetic fluid?
“It is the vital fluid or animalized electricity, and is a modification of the universal fluid.”
428- What is the cause of somnambulistic clairvoyance?
“We have already told you: it is soul sight.”
429- How can the somnambulist see through opaque objects?
“No object is completely opaque – except to your dense organs. We have already stated that matter is no obstacle to spirits, since they can pass right through it. Somnambulists frequently tell you that they see through their forehead, through their knee, etc., because you are entirely immersed in matter and do not understand that they can see without the help of the organs; nonetheless, at your insistence, they believe they actually need them. If you were to leave them alone, however, they would understand that they see through all the parts of the body, or, rather, that they see apart from their body.”
430- Since the clairvoyance of somnambulists is that of their soul or spirit, why don’t they see everything, and why do they so often make mistakes?
“First, it is not given to imperfect spirits to see everything and know everything. You know very well that they still share your errors and prejudices. Second, while they are connected to matter they do not enjoy all their spirit faculties. God has given clairvoyance to humankind for a useful and serious purpose, and not so that it may learn what it should not know. That is why somnambulists do not know everything.”
431- What is the source of somnambulists’ innate ideas, and how can they speak with such precision about things of which they are ignorant in the waking state, and which are even above their intellectual capacity?
“It just so happens that somnambulists may actually possess more knowledge than you might think, but it is dormant – their corporeal envelope is too imperfect for them to be able to remember such knowledge. But who are they, after all? Like us, they are spirits who have incarnated to fulfill their mission, and the somnambulistic state into which they enter awakens them from their mental lethargy. We have repeatedly told you that humans live many times and when they reincarnate it causes the material loss of what they had learned in a previous life. When they enter what you call the crisis state, they remember what they already know, but always incompletely. They know, but they cannot say where such knowledge comes from or why they have it. When the crisis passes, the memory is erased entirely and they return to their waking state knowledge.”
Experience has shown that somnambulists also receive communications from other spirits, who transmit to them what they must say and supply them with what they lack. This is especially seen in cases involving medical prescriptions: the spirit of the somnambulist discerns what the malady is and another spirit indicates the remedy. This double action is sometimes patent, whereas at other times it is revealed through their frequent expressions: They are telling me to say, or they are forbidding me to say such and such. In the latter case, it is always dangerous to insist on obtaining information that has been denied; otherwise, the door opens to frivolous spirits who unscrupulously talk about everything without being at all interested in the truth.
432- How do you explain the remote viewing ability that some somnambulists experience?
“Doesn’t the soul travel about during sleep? The same thing occurs in somnambulism.”
433- Does the greater or lesser development of somnambulistic clairvoyance depend on the physical organization of the body or on the nature of the incarnate spirit?
“On both. There are physical dispositions that allow the spirit to disengage itself easily or not so easily from matter.”
434- Are the faculties that the spirit of the somnambulist enjoys the same as those of the spirit after death?
“To a certain extent, but the somnambulist’s spirit still finds itself attached to matter, and one must take this fact into account.”
435- Can somnambulists see other spirits?
“Most can see them very easily, but it depends on the nature and degree of their lucidity. However, sometimes they do not at first understand what other spirits are and thus mistake them for corporeal beings. This happens especially with those who have no knowledge of Spiritism, because they do not yet comprehend the nature of spirits; their human appearance fools them and that is why they think they are seeing living persons.”
The same effect is produced at the moment of death among those who think they are still alive. Nothing around them appears to have changed. Spirits appear to them as having bodies similar to ours and they mistake the appearance of their own bodies as being real.
436- Do somnambulists who see at a distance see from the place where their body is or from where their soul is?
“Why ask such a question, since it is the soul that sees and not the body?”
437- Since it is actually the soul that travels about, how can somnambulists experience in their body the sensations of the heat or cold of the place where their soul is, which is sometimes very far from where their body actually is?
“Their soul has not entirely left the body. It always remains connected to it by the tie that joins them, and this tie is the conductor of sensations. When two persons correspond between one city and another by means of electricity, the electricity is the tie between their thoughts; thanks to it, they can communicate as though they were right next to each other.”
438- Does the use that somnambulists make of their faculties during life influence the state of their spirit after death?
“Very considerably, like the good or bad use of all the faculties that God has given to human beings.”
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