344- At what moment does the soul actually join the body?
“The union begins at conception but is only complete at the moment of birth. From the moment of conception, the spirit designated to inhabit a given body is connected to it by a fluidic tie, which gets tighter and tighter up to the instant the child is born. The newborn’s cries announce that it has entered the number of the living and the servants of God.”
345- Is the union between the spirit and body definitive from the moment of conception? In other words, during this first stage could the spirit refuse to inhabit the body that has been designated for it?
“The union is definitive in the sense that no other spirit can replace the one who has been designated for that particular body. However, since the ties that bind it are very tenuous and easy to break, they may actually be severed by the will of a spirit who recoils from the trial it has chosen. In that case, the child does not survive.”
346- What happens to a spirit if the body it has chosen dies before birth?
“It chooses another.”
– What could be the usefulness of such premature deaths?
“The imperfections of matter are frequently the cause of such deaths.”
347- What usefulness can a spirit derive from incarnating into a body that dies a few days after birth?
“Such a being does not yet have a sufficiently developed consciousness of its existence; the importance of its death is almost null. As we have already said, these cases are often meant as a trial for the parents.”
348- Does a spirit know beforehand that the body it has chosen will have no chance of surviving?
“It knows sometimes, but if it chooses it for that reason, it does so in order to avoid its upcoming trial.”
349- When a particular incarnation fails for a spirit for any reason, is it immediately furnished with another existence?
“Not always immediately. The spirit requires time to make another choice, unless an immediate reincarnation had been previously decided upon.”
350- Once definitely united to the body of a child and therefore no longer able to withdraw, does a spirit sometimes regret the choice it has made?
“Do you mean if as an incarnate spirit it might complain about its life, or if it would like to have another? Yes. Does it regret the choice it made? No, because it does not even remember having made the choice in the first place. Once incarnate, a spirit cannot regret a choice of which it has no awareness, but it may find the burden to be too heavy, and if it thinks the burden is beyond its strength to endure, it may resort to suicide.”
351- In the interval between conception and birth, do spirits enjoy all their faculties?
“More so or less so, depending on the phase of gestation because during that time they are not yet fully incarnated; they are only attached to the body. At the moment of conception, confusion begins to envelop the spirit and it is thereby warned that the time has come to start a new existence. This confusion increases until the time of birth. In the meantime, its state is more or less that of an incarnate spirit during sleep. As the moment of birth approaches, its ideas are erased, as well as its memory of the past, which it is no longer conscious of once it returns to life on the earth. But this memory returns little by little when it reenters the spirit state.”
352- At the moment of birth, do spirits immediately recover the fullness of their faculties?
“No, the faculties develop gradually with the organs. Spirits find themselves in a new existence and must learn to use their bodily instruments. Their ideas return little by little, like those of individuals who wake up from sleep to find themselves in a different situation than the one they were in the day before.”
353- Since the union of a spirit with its body is not complete and definitely consummated until after birth, can the fetus be considered as having a soul?
“The spirit who must animate it exists outside of it, so to speak. Strictly speaking, the fetus has no soul since the current incarnation is only in the process of being accomplished. Nevertheless, the fetus is linked to the soul that it will have.”
354- How can intrauterine life be explained?
“It is like a germinating plant. The fetus lives a corporeal animal-like life. As a fetus, human beings already have within themselves a vegeto-animal47 life, which they complete at birth with a spiritual life.”
355- As medical science has pointed out, there are infants who, even in their mother’s womb, have no possibility of surviving. For what purpose does this occur?
“This is a common occurrence that God permits as a trial, either for the parents or the spirit appointed to animate the child.”
356- Are there stillborn infants who were not meant for a spirit to incarnate in them in the first place?
“Yes, there are some who never had a spirit destined for their bodies – nothing would have been accomplished in them. It is solely for the parents that such a child is delivered.”
– Can a being of such a nature be carried to term?
“Yes, sometimes, but then it does not survive.”
– Then every child that survives necessarily has a spirit incarnated in it?
“Of course; what would it be without a spirit? It would not be a human being.”
357- What are the consequences of abortion for a spirit?
“Its existence is nullified and must be commenced again.”
358- Is artificial abortion a crime regardless of the time of conception?
“A crime is always committed when the law of God is
transgressed. The mother or any other person involved always commits a crime upon taking the life of a child before its birth because it prevents a soul from experiencing the trials for which the unborn’s body was to have been the instrument.”
47 “Vegeto-animal: common to plants and animals” (Dorland’s Medical Dictionary, 2003) – Tr.
359- In cases where the life of the mother would be endangered by the birth of the child, is it a crime to sacrifice the child in order to save the mother?
“It is better to sacrifice the being who does not yet exist than the being who already exists.”
360- Is it rational to treat the fetus with the same respect as the body of a child who has already survived?
“You should see the will of God and the divine handiwork in everything, and not treat lightly the things you ought to respect. Why not respect all the works of creation, which are sometimes incomplete by the will of the Creator?
Everything follows according to God’s designs and no one is called upon to judge them.”
Site Espírita 