International Spiritist Council (CEI) Mediumship Study Course Anyone who feels, to any degree, the influence of the Spirits is, by that very fact, a medium. This faculty is inherent in humankind; and is therefore not an exclusive privilege. ‘The Mediums’ Book’, Chapter XIV, item 159 THE DYNAMICS OF FLUIDS AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE PERISPIRIT Dear friends, a very warm welcome to you all to the International Spiritist Council’s Course on Mediumship.
This programme is an initiative of the CEI’s Department of the Study and Practice of Mediumship, and is dedicated to the serious, responsible and always grounded in Spiritist works, in accordance with the guidance of the Higher Spirits. We know – and I was just about to say hello to our dear Jacobson who is leading this study. Jacobson, thank you for your dedication and insight – how are you today?
Márcia, I’m the one who’s always grateful for the opportunity; we’re the ones who learn the most, so I’m very grateful to you all for the opportunity to be learning here, in this study, which may seem to be purely expository, but which leads us to reflect on so many things. I completely agree; for me, it’s a blessing to be here, but well, just sharing our little messages, our memories. Our sessions take place weekly every Tuesday, and we’d like to ask you to make sure you subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon, so you can receive notifications of upcoming episodes that we’ll be bringing you for a while, Jacobson.
During the programme – and this is important – you’ll see there’s a QR code, which you can use you can send us your questions, or via the chat as well. It’s very important because we’re collecting, episode by episode, these questions so we can answer them at the end of the series, in a special episode. It’s always worth remembering that we’re not alone in this work, so, thank you to everyone from the various federations that form part of the CEI, it is thanks to the work they are doing that we are able to subtitle content originally into Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch.
Today, Jacobson will continue with theme seven, with a second episode on the topic: the dynamics of fluids and the structure of the perispirit. Just a reminder for anyone who hasn’t watched it yet: do have a look – the last episode was excellent, last week, in the first episode on this topic, Jacobson and taught us a great deal about how fluids are fundamental elements for understanding mediumship and also the interaction between spirit and matter. It is also worth recalling the various references Jacobson drew upon in his work on this subject, *The Spirits’ Book*, *The Mediums’ Book*, *Genesis*, and in his presentation, Jacobson explained, essentially, that the universal cosmic fluid acts as this intermediary between the intelligent principle and the spiritual world, sorry, the intelligent principle—my mind’s gone a bit in circles—and the material world, giving rise to the spiritual fluids, the perispirit.
In this study, we learn how thought influences these fluids and, consequently – and this is something we must always bear in mind – affects our health, our emotions, and the relationship between them and our spiritual harmony. For me, Jacobson, this topic is an invitation for us all to delve deeper our understanding of the perispirit as the organiser of perceptions of the fluids and as this intermediate language of consciousness and which broadens our view of mediumship as an integrated process of evolution, energy and consciousness – not just a faculty, as we always tend to think. Mediumship is a faculty; it’s not much more than that.
I’ll now hand the microphone over to Jacobson. Thank you, Jacobson, the floor is yours. Thank you, Márcia.
That’s exactly what you said. Today we’re going to explore those points you raised in more detail, because studying fluids is to study our daily lives in coexistence with the spirits. It is essential for our harmony to understand the concept of fluids, because we study our relationship with the spirits in great depth.
We talk about spirits, but we forget the medium in which the discarnate spirits and ourselves exist, which is the fluidic medium. Kardec identified, based on information from the spirits, that a primitive elemental matter exists. This is the definition he gives in the book *Genesis*, in chapter 14.
We’re going to look at this Chapter 14 in a little more detail on today’s programme. We’ll focus on a few key topics for understanding the spirits’ and Kardec’s views on fluids. Kardec notes, ‘the universal cosmic fluid is the primitive elemental matter, whose modifications and transformations constitute the innumerable variety of bodies of nature.
” Many people find the expression ‘universal cosmic fluid’ rather daunting. I find it very difficult to understand. Others want to understand the nature of the fluid based on this expression.
It so happens that ‘universal cosmic fluid’ was the name the spirits gave to this matter, which we do not know; there is nothing to compare it with. It is of a very special nature, and the spirits found it somewhat difficult in naming it, because there is no word to explain this state of matter. It cannot be compared to solid, liquid, gas or radiant matter.
In short, it was therefore necessary for them to become familiar with the expression. It’s a term, it’s a name. People are impressed by the name, but it’s just a name that’s been given to this subject.
Just as I have my name and you have yours, to identify ourselves. Cosmic fluid is a kind of universal substrate of divine creation. Did God create all things?
Yes, starting with the creation of primordial matter. God created the universal cosmic fluid, and from that point on, the fluid gradually changed and created everything we know. So, God did not directly create a plant; He created the basis for the plant to emerge.
That is why He created everything. And everything is part of the divine will, because He established that primordial matter. And if we break down the expression ‘universal cosmic fluid’, we recall, as we’ve already mentioned, that a fluid is something that flows.
It’s an attempt to explain how the fluid moves. It is that which flows, which has no fixed form, which can be moulded and transformed. So, it is a very subtle substance, capable of undergoing countless changes.
For this reason, the term ‘cosmic fluid’ signifies order, an organised world, the universe. It indicates that this fluid belongs to the universe as a whole, encompassing all of creation. ‘Universal’ means that it extends to everything, is common to all, and is present everywhere.
So, it is a fluid that is common to all of creation. So, by breaking down the expression, we can more or less understand what the Spirits meant. So, intuitively, we have to imagine the universe immersed in a vast ocean.
The water would be the fluid, which is everywhere. That is why it flows; water flows. A comparison to understand why they used the word ‘fluid’.
It’s because, really, that’s the best way to explain a word that comes closest to the movement of fluids. Why it flows. In fact, it is in motion.
It’s much more than that, and that’s what we’re going to look at today. But it is this potential for displacement, for movement, for change, this idea of fluidity, that it is such a subtle substance. So it also has this connotation, due to its varied transformations.
When we analyse fluid from this material perspective, we see that it can be imponderable, that is to say, have no weight, which would originally be its condition. It would have no weight here in the physical dimension. And here in the physical dimension, it may be materialised and have weight, which would be tangible matter.
So, when I touch a table, I am touching a modification of the universal cosmic fluid, which is one of the ways in which it can vary. Now, if we consider the spiritual dimension in relation to the material one, it would have no weight, no volume, and would occupy no space. But in the spiritual dimension, according to what the spirits describe, for example, a chair in the spiritual dimension, it would indeed have a volume; it would occupy space, it would have a certain density.
If we were to look at it from here, it would be ethereal; in other words, it would not have a specific weight as it does here, nor would it occupy a place in space. But in the spiritual dimension, yes, you can see this when André Luiz describes the objects in the colony; he talks about buildings there, for example. He says that the ‘Nosso Lar’ colony – he refers to it on several occasions in the book *Nosso Lar*, there are buildings in the city.
This building has volume; it occupies a space; spirits enter the building, it has rooms, it has furniture, it has decorations, it has flowers. What is all this made of? Of universal cosmic fluid.
Everything the spirits describe in the novels regarding spiritual life, that which is material takes place in the spiritual dimension, which is a variation of the universal cosmic fluid. Kardec had already identified this; we have information on this in *The Mediums’ Book*. Kardec studies this question of fluidic creations at length, with regard to their density and volume in the spiritual dimension.
He identified spirits who had materialised, who had been seen by clairvoyants, and who carried with them, for example, a walking stick or a hat. In *The Mediums’ Book*, he discusses on several occasions an object, the snuffbox, which was a very common object in Kardec’s time, in the 19th century, in which people would place snuff, a substance that was sniffed, and and so on. So, Kardec examines it and talks to the spirits.
And this snuffbox, this walking stick – do they exist? Yes, they do exist here in the spiritual dimension; they have volume, it occupies a place in space; the spirit picks it up and brings the object with them. This object is fluidic.
This is so that we understand that the term ‘fluid’ does not refer to something that is merely imaginary or so ethereal that it could not possibly of being touched. Not for us, anyway. On a physical level, we don’t touch the fluid with our hands.
We touch it through our thoughts. But in the spiritual dimension, spirits pick up objects, meaning that those objects have an existence. For example, Kardec analyses this at length in the chapter of *The Mediums’ Book*, ‘Laboratory of the Invisible World’, he asks the spirits what their clothing is made of.
The spirits appear wearing tunics, in clothing specific to a particular era. These spirits’ garments are fluidic; they are a fluidic creation, a variation of the universal cosmos. But that does not mean it is so subtle that it cannot be touched.
As for spirits, the creations of objects, although they are fluidic, they do, in fact, possess a certain density, they can be touched and guided, and they have an existence as long as the one who created the objects is thinking of them. So, this is to show us that the universal cosmic fluid is matter. This is very important, because very often in mediumistic séances, the spirits speak of objects; these objects are real, they are not imaginary.
But they are not creations of the mind; isn’t that imagination? In our dimension, here, the physical one, yes, it would be imagination. But in the spiritual dimension, it is a concrete object.
So, the terms ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’ are to some extent relative in relation to the environment in which you find yourself. Here, a fluidic hat is, for us, something that cannot be touched or seen. But for a spirit, that object is real – just as real to it as a hat here in the physical dimension for us.
It’s very important that we understand this, so that we can grasp that the fluid in which we are immersed is a very subtle and delicate form of matter, yet one that is malleable and changeable, but which creates real objects and which, as a result, can affect us. When we come into contact with the spiritual dimension, we are coming into contact with spirits and with fluid. The place where we live is full of fluid, because it occupies the same space as oxygen, as the air that surrounds us.
So much so that Kardec uses an expression, that the fluids, or the universal cosmic fluid, forms the atmosphere in which spirits live, comparable to our atmosphere here, we live in an atmosphere containing oxygen, an atmosphere that surrounds the planet Earth. So, surrounding the planet Earth, we have two atmospheres. We have the physical atmosphere and the fluid atmosphere.
And we interact with both of them. We coexist with both. That is why, once again, we recall the idea that we exist in two dimensions.
We are inter-existent beings. We are experiencing both the physical atmosphere and the atmosphere of the spirits. Because the spiritual realm is right here, where we are, because the universe is surrounded or filled.
There is no empty space in the universe. It is filled with the universal cosmic fluid. So, spirits move about.
We move about, whether in the physical body or not. We move within the fluidic atmosphere that surrounds the planet, which is the universal cosmic fluid, and we also move through the physical atmosphere that surrounds the planet, which consists of the gases surrounding our globe, our planet. Our contact with the universal cosmic fluid is continuous and permanent.
And why does it affect us so much? Because our perispirit is of the same nature as the fluid. It is formed, it is created, by the universal cosmic fluid.
Now, as they are of the same nature, the communication between our perispirit and the cosmic fluid is continuous. As the perispirit transmits everything the soul feels to the physical body, the radiations of the cosmic fluid, from the environment in which we find ourselves, reach our body. Whether we like it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, it affects us.
So, the concept of fluid dynamics is very important for understanding this, because many people also find it somewhat difficult to understand, for example, the concept of the threshold, which is information provided by André Luiz in the book *Nosso Lar*. The threshold is fluidic. But just as real to spirits as our physical environment here.
And the atmosphere of the threshold stems from the collective mindset of that environment. This helps us to understand what is concrete and what is abstract in relation to the fluids. Much of this is actually quite intuitive, but it was the best the spirits could offer us.
And they speak of variations of this fluid, for example, the vital fluid. The vital fluid is a variation of the universal cosmic fluid, with a very specific purpose. It is a substance that is said to be the principle of material and organic life, common to all living beings.
Every living being has vital fluid. Animals, plants – every being has vital fluid. It is a variation, an expression that we see a lot in Spiritist books it really is a variation, an alteration.
So, it is not a different fluid; it is a fluid specific to a function, which is the sustenance of life. ‘Magnetic fluid’ is also a term we come across in Spiritist works. Or ‘animalised fluid’, ‘electrical fluid’, which are, more or less, synonyms for vital fluid, only with a different function.
It would be the agent of healing. ‘It is magnetic’ is also an expression that many people find difficult. This ‘magnetic’ refers to, or is being compared with, a magnet.
It’s a comparison. It behaves just like a magnet would. So, the magnetic fluid, which we also have, it attracts or repels spirits, attracts or repels fluids.
When we speak like this, we’re going to perform a healing gesture, magnetise the water, what happened? Through our thoughts, we radiate fluids that have become associated with the water, guided by the spirits, because it is they who bring about this transformation of the transformation of the cosmic fluid upon contact with water, altering the substance—the water—so that it becomes medicinal. So, the fluid is matter, water is matter, and they combine.
So, at times, we will also hear the term ‘perispiritual fluid’, ‘perispiritual fluid’, to refer to the perispirit itself, which would be a variation of the perispirit. The word ‘fluid’ is used in various contexts, in various specific senses, but always as a variation of the universal cosmic fluid. So, when we are offering a prayer for someone, and we are radiating our thoughts, what is happening?
Our thought is travelling through the fluid, propelling the positive fluid towards the sick person, and often this also comes from our own vital fluid. We can channel vital fluid from a distance – this is known as distant healing – or the magnetisation of water from a distance. In other words, through my desire, my will, and prayer, I can direct the vital fluid towards a sick person.
It is a variation of the universal cosmic fluid. And then, in Chapter 14 of the book *Genesis*, in section 13, Kardec examines one of the most interesting functions of the universal cosmic fluid, which is the effect of thought upon this fluid. So, when we study the fluid, we are studying thought itself, the dynamics of thought.
That is why Emmanuel says that thought is also matter, because it is capable of setting the fluid itself in motion. Thought is abstract in our dimension. In the dimension of the Spirits, it is concrete.
This is what Kardec examines in section 13 of chapter 14 of the book *The Genesis*, where he discusses the action of spirits on fluids, fluidic creations and what he called ‘photography of thought’. This action of the Spirits on fluids is carried out by both incarnate and discarnate spirits. Thus, spirits communicate through the transmission of thought; and this thought travels through the fluid just as sound travels through the air.
And Kardec, expanding on this idea in the aforementioned point 13, says that the vehicle of thought—which is the idea I have just put forward— is the universal cosmic fluid. In section 14 of that same chapter, Kardec makes the following observation: ‘The Spirits act upon the spiritual fluids’ Here he is talking about spiritual fluid; he is not referring to any other type of fluid, no. He is specifying the nature of the fluid.
He is referring to the spiritual dimension. So, the word ‘fluid’ is always used in different contexts, but always referring to the universal cosmic fluid. It is not exactly a different fluid.
It is the fluid found in the spiritual dimension as perceived by the Spirits. So, the Spirits act upon the spiritual fluids, not by manipulating them as humans manipulate gases, but by employing thought and will. This idea is fundamental.
The Spirits here are us, both incarnate and discarnate. For spirits, thought and will are what the hand is to man. So, through our thoughts and our will, altering, that is to say, manipulating the fluids.
He says that, through thought, we can direct the fluid in one direction or another. So, I can direct the fluid towards a sick person at a certain address, that’s what he means. They can be aggregated, combined.
So, a fluid combines with water to make the water medicinal. They can be brought together; the Spirits can be gathered to create, for example, a spiritual city, or they may also be scattered. That is very interesting, because a negative mental creation can be undone, provided you do not think about it.
So, this fluidic creation gradually takes on a form, and this expression, ‘appearance’, is used frequently, Kardec, in *The Spirits’ Book*, in *The Mediums’ Book* and here in *Genesis*. What does he explain? Or what does he analyse?
The Spirit – we don’t know what it is. A light, a wisp. Anyway, we don’t know what the Spirit is made of, we only know that it is not matter.
However, every Spirit is surrounded by a fluidic atmosphere. Kardec called it the perispirit. It surrounds the Spirit.
It is a fluidic atmosphere, which takes the form that the Spirit’s thoughts give to this perispirit. Look closely. A Spirit can alter its own perispirit, consciously or unconsciously, through their own thoughts, through their will.
This is a very delicate matter, because the Spirit’s garment is a creation of the thoughts of the Spirit itself. So, when the Spirit imagines itself dressed, the clothes appear. If it imagines itself dressed in medieval garb, he’ll see himself in those medieval clothes.
So, two things happen. Either he wishes to be dressed in medieval clothes, and the medieval clothes clothe him, or the Spirit remembers a life back in the Middle Ages when it was in the habit of wearing the clothes typical of that era. He believes he is still living in that era.
Because he believes he is living in that era, he sees himself dressed in period clothing. So, he made a conscious effort to create that outfit, he did so unconsciously. So, we can alter the fluids consciously or unconsciously.
Most spirits do not realise that they can manipulate the fluids, which is why they suffer so much. Because they lack the maturity to alter the fluid as they please. They suffer from the very thoughts they create, but they cannot cope with it, because they have not evolved enough to change it.
The Spirit who finds himself living in a particular era, will be dressed in the clothing of that era because they believe they are in that era. Here, Kardec uses a very interesting word. He says that this – these clothes – is an ‘appearance’.
But we cannot use the word ‘appearance’ in the sense found in a standard dictionary. He means that those clothes clothe the Spirit, that form in which it presents itself – whether it be long hair or a beard, or man, or woman, stems from one’s mental fixation and is therefore an appearance, because the Spirit itself does not have that form. But what form does the Spirit take?
Nobody knows. What does the Spirit look like? It is whichever form it wishes, if it has mental control, or whichever form it focuses on mentally.
That is why there are spirits whom the clairvoyant medium sees who have physical deformities. That physical deformity stems from that Spirit’s fixation to an illness they suffered from. That is an appearance.
But, I repeat, the word ‘appearance’ here cannot be taken to mean imagination, it is something real. The person’s body – the person sees themselves like that, just as we see our own bodies. They cannot change this physical form.
Because they are fixed, they are conditioned, lacks the mental control to alter their own perispiritual body, because he lacks sufficient willpower. He has not evolved, nor does he have control over his own perispirit, but is unaware that, even so, he is altering his own perispirit. The Spirit’s form arises from the Spirit’s thoughts, but that does not make it any less real.
So, Kardec studied this question at great length; he used the word ‘appearance’ because it draws a comparison between the perispirit and the spirit. The pure Spirit has no fixed form. This form is changeable, depending on the Spirit’s state of mind.
It is one of the most subtle implications arising from the action of the fluids, or of the perispirit itself, which is fluidic. This applies to everyone because when a person leaves their physical body, they will see themselves in a certain way, and that form will be the one they are accustomed to. Few spirits manage it; few people manage, upon passing away, to immediately take on another form, or to imprint another form upon themselves.
The vast majority of the Earth’s population cannot take on another form because you spend 70, 80 or 90 years there in a fixed form, with a body and a certain appearance. When a person passes away, they will retain the same appearance. That is why, for example, those who have taken their own lives suffer so much.
Because they see their mutilated body, their perispirit records the repercussions of the act. Yvone do Amaral Pereira mentions, for example, that a spirit she saw, several in fact in that condition, who had shot themselves, thus committing suicide, and that fluidic body, or perispirit, was still bleeding. The spirit sees the blood flowing all the time.
It doesn’t stop. Why? Because that act – suicide – became so ingrained in his mind when he shot his own body, that he, outside his physical body, will continue to feel the pain and see the blood flowing because of the conditioning caused by this fixed idea, so that we realise we cannot change the perispirit very much.
Hence the importance of us learning to control our thoughts now. Because here too, on the physical plane, we have to practise this. To have positive thoughts so that we can gain some control over these difficulties.
This is what Kardec discusses in section 14 of chapter 14 of the book *The Genesis*. Look at what he says here – a brief excerpt from Kardec’s discussion of this subject. ‘It is in this way, for example, that a Spirit becomes visible to an incarnate being who possesses psychic sight (that is, clairvoyance or vision), in the form the spirit had whilst alive at the time the person first met them" And it has to be that way, otherwise you won’t recognise the spirit.
So, a son will see his mother in the afterlife, he has to see his mother as he knew her when she was incarnate, otherwise he won’t recognise her. If she changes her form, he won’t recognise her. But that form is conditioned precisely by this desire to appear to her son, or because she is unable to change her own form, and here Kardec adds: Although this spirit has had, since that time, many incarnations, we have had many incarnations, What form will I take after I pass away?
The appearance of that existence which I remember, which I focus on. This is the case for everyone. Kardec also comments: ‘It presents itself with the clothing, the outward signs illness, scars and amputated limbs that he had at the time.
A decapitated person will appear headless, which by no means implies that they have retained that appearance. Certainly, as a spirit, he is not lame, one-armed, or decapitated; what happens is that, when his thoughts go back to the time when it had such defects. ” Just as with the colour of the body, whether man or woman, skin colour, man or woman, belonging to one race or another, will depend on that existential moment to which the person is mentally attuned.
This is a form, a creation, an alteration of the fluid, in this case, the perispirit, which is part of the universal cosmic fluid, by our thoughts. So, he goes on to say here: ‘By a similar effect, the Spirit’s thought of the Spirit fluidically creates the objects it was accustomed to using. A miser will handle gold; a soldier will have his weapons and his uniform; a smoker, his pipe; a farmer, his plough and his oxen” Why?
He is mentally fixated on it. Knowing this is of profound importance, because this happens to the disembodied and it happens to us, except that we do not see the mental construct, but it is real, tangible and capable of affecting us. This question of whether something is real or unreal is closely linked to the physical or spiritual dimension.
For the spirit, that is real. That is why we cannot be too simplistic in a mediumistic séance and say to the spirit: ‘Forget about what’s happening’. In theory, yes, but they’re not capable of doing so; it is incapable of changing its own spirit; he’ll find himself unwell and very often we’ll have to guide him psychologically towards recovery whilst they are ill; Giving them medication, offering them a stretcher to lie down on, a therapeutic measure, because that is what they understand.
And it is real, not imaginary. You see, André Luiz, in the book *Nosso Lar*, he describes how the Spirits go with a stretcher, they collect sick spirits at the threshold and take them to a hospital. That Spirit who is ill, is fixated on an idea of illness that they have created for themselves.
So, if they were to stop thinking about the illness, would it change? It would alter its perispiritual body and change its very nature, but he can’t manage it, because he hasn’t evolved, he lacks sufficient mental control. To acquire mental control and to have a healthy perispiritual body, they are treated in the spiritual dimension.
Some achieve balance and restore their perispirit, and it retains a healthy appearance. Others do not manage to do so, it’s not very straightforward, according to the spirits. And so they need to reincarnate, which is why reincarnation itself is a remedy for the soul, because with the new incarnation, the physical body changes, the perispirit changes, and then, when the person leaves the body again, they will already have the form of the second body, and not that of the first one, which was ill.
That is why reincarnation is a blessing for us all. It has this healing aspect and helps to balance the mind. So, reincarnation is a blessing.
What do we forget when we reincarnate? One of the reasons for this forgetfulness is precisely this: we stop thinking in the unhealthy way we used to. And now, with the opportunity to have a healthy perispirit.
Sometimes, we carry scars from the past and so an illness accompanies us, but through effort, hard work, study and balanced thinking, we gradually heal our own perispirit. And when we leave the body again, we’ll have this healthy second body. Because we often lack control over our own thoughts in the spiritual dimension.
So, we need to reincarnate in order to acquire this mental control. That is why spirits often reincarnate, to learn how to achieve mental mastery, because if they remain in the spiritual dimension as they are, they become disturbed, which is one of the subjects Kardec studies. Why does the spirit need to go through incarnation?
That is one of the reasons. It is to learn to exercise control over one’s thoughts and over one’s own perispirit, which comes with evolution. Because many spirits remain in the spiritual dimension in a state of utter distress; they are unable to escape this disturbance because it is so intense?
This stems from years, sometimes more than one incarnation in that state of imbalance. Then the person reincarnates; they forget; the problems of the past are somewhat mitigated, and is then able to bring their mind into balance and return to the spiritual realm, which is our natural life, with greater balance. So, incarnation is healing, because it helps us with that.
So, if reincarnation is healing, if it is a remedy, we must make the most of reincarnation to instil healthy thoughts and self-control, and not let the mind wander freely. This mental control, this exercise in mental control right now, has a profound impact on our evolutionary process. Because evolution will take place precisely through this control of thought.
Of course, this control of thought is not random; it stems from a study that we have to undertake. That is why we have to study every day, Spiritist subjects, for example; mediumship; we have to pray every day, meditate every day. All of this is an exercise in mental control and control of the energies, creating positive energies.
Be mindful of what you say, do not speak ill of others, do not wish ill upon others, do not harbour hatred, revenge, all of this is a state of imbalance. That is why forgiveness is an evolutionary necessity, where we gradually learn to control our own emotions and thoughts. Because if a person passes away harbouring hatred and without forgiveness, they are magnetically drawn towards the person they harbour ill will towards, and both begin to become obsessed with one another, because they are unbalanced minds; minds that have not learnt to control their own emotions and suffer the consequences of this mental aberration, they become enveloped by a dark, disturbing fluid; the perispirit bears the marks of violence.
So mercy, forgiveness, benevolence, patience, understanding, these virtues which we regard merely as moral, have a physical impact, because they express the mind’s control over one’s own emotions which in turn affects the perispirit. Then Kardec, in item 15 of the book *The Genesis*, chapter 14, he uses an expression; he says that thoughts are imprinted on the perispirit. What did the spirits mean by that?
Because that was all that could be said at the time, in the nineteenth century, that thoughts are imprinted on the perispirit. The most common thing would be a photograph, to show an image, so it was a photograph. You might think that a photograph is something static, our thoughts are photographed, if you take this literally, you’ll picture a still image, a photograph, in the perispirit; I thought of something, good or bad; that thought is captured.
So, if I think about a person, persistently that person’s image is captured in the perispirit. That was all we could say at the time: ‘photograph’. André Luiz brings this up to date, making use of today’s technological resources, or something closer to them, to explain that, in fact, these images are cinematic, that is to say, they have movement and vitality, quite unlike a photograph.
I repeat, it’s not that *The Genesis* is outdated, it is depicting a book from another era. So André Luiz says it is cinematic. Nowadays, with communication devices and the videos we record, we have this idea that, in the perispirit, our thoughts come to life, but where exactly in the perispirit?
That’s where André Luiz is going to address a very interesting topic. He says that our thoughts are projected onto the aura. What is André Luiz’s aura, which he discusses in the book *Evolution in Two Worlds*?
We have an aura around us, that is to say, an extension of the perispirit. So, our perispirit is not confined to the limits of our skin; our perispirit extends beyond our body; aura. And it is there, within that aura, that our thoughts come to life.
So, in fact, when a spirit looks at us, it sees our aura; it sees our thoughts projected onto the aura. It’s just that these thoughts of ours are imbued with vitality because they contain a proportion of vital fluid. So, if they contain a portion of vital fluid, they are highly magnetic, they attract like-minded spirits, and are drawn to that sort of thinking.
A lower spirit, for example, does not penetrate the thoughts of an incarnate being, an obsessor, a lower spirit, does not penetrate the thought itself, because, sometimes, it cannot see the thought inside the skull. What does it see? The thought radiating from the person, the thought projected onto the person’s aura and that is what attracts him, because it is drawn to them magnetically, like a magnet.
Sometimes, he doesn’t even want to be near the person, many spirits say this. Ah, I’m by so-and-so’s side, I don’t even know why, it’s him who attracts me; I’d actually rather be away from him. Many ‘obsessors’ say that, or so-called obsessing spirits.
They are spirits who are victims of incarnates whom we call ‘obsessors’, but we need to reconsider this term, because they are victims, they are weakened spirits whom the incarnate person keeps close to them; he attracts them through a kind of mental image, which, as I said, is cinematic; has movement; has life; it has depth. That attracts the spirit. It becomes fixated on that over there and can’t get out, because it’s of the same nature, it’s magnetic, it’s the magnet.
The nail is attracted to the magnet, the nail might even want to break free from the magnet, but the magnet is very strong, and holds the metal fast. Many people have spirits attached to them, who are unable to move away, because of the kind of mental image the person harbours. So, a person who harbours thoughts of crime will magnetically attract spirits linked to crime; to hatred, to evil.
That is why we change when we study this subject, that idea that the spirit is to blame for everything. No. The Spirit is often the victim of it all, so we draw it in and it begins to connect mentally with our thoughts, and the obsessive process takes place Which is always mutual.
In other words, we obsess and are obsessed. But why? Because, sometimes, we attract the Spirit.
That’s why we need to change our way of thinking to free the Spirits that may be attached to our minds. I’ve got as far as point 15, have you seen, Márcia? From the next programme onwards, I’ll be continuing here on ‘Genesis’, because, as you’ve seen, it’s a very rich subject; it contains some very useful details, to help us understand this issue of fluids.
On this point, Márcia, still in section 15 of chapter 14 of Genesis Kardec says the following; I find this sentence particularly incisive: ‘This is how the soul’s most secret movements are reflected in the fluidic envelope; that one soul can read another soul, as if it were a book, and see what is not perceptible to the eyes of the body. ” Let there be therapy. Let there be therapy.
Let there be therapy. We want to bring about change through this, and it’s all there. Exactly.
That’s why we don’t hide the spirits’ thoughts. Because, in fact, they are the images we create, which are projected around us, and that is why they are seen. And that is why a person suffers so much after they pass away.
Because these thoughts continue to be seen and then the person dies of shame, because they find a relative or a friend there who is seeing their thoughts. And now it’s become complicated because, whilst in the physical body, they didn’t get used to having that control. So, scenes from our inner life of thought are projected onto this aura and the Spirits watch; they are drawn to it, and remain fixed there.
Consequently, because the Spirit is not to blame, in many cases, they are the victim. Thank you, my sister, I think next week you’ll have to tell us which exercises we can do to start right away – rather than in the next N incarnations – with this control, Is that alright? But I touched on it briefly; we’ll talk about it a bit more, because next week I’m going to talk about fluid quality.
Take a look at this; It’s a very interesting topic, but prayer, meditation and study are essential every day for us to learn to detach ourselves from these . But when we talk about prayer, it is prayer, shall we say, in motion. What is prayer in motion?
It is forgiveness, understanding, patience, refraining from speaking ill of others, and refraining from thinking badly of people. When we do all that, if I try to be more tolerant and understanding, if I don’t get annoyed all the time, that’s self-control. That’s the exercise we have to do.
It’s not about sitting still and doing mental exercises to change our mental images, because sometimes we just can’t manage it. That is why work is so important for mental control. Prayer, work, meditation, study and this moral renewal are the or the daily exercises in mental control, because, very often, when we study certain topics related to thought, we imagine those exercises in which we try to clear our minds.
This control is very difficult. In the West, we don’t usually have that culture. So, there are these other exercises I mentioned, which are fundamental.
Mental control stems from that. I’ll say it again. Come on, this goes for all of us!
Prayer through work, study and meditation is prayer in motion, which is the practice of inner virtue. Thank you, my friend! No, I loved it.
I loved it for all of us – I was already thinking about how I’m going to try to minimise the number of reincarnations to achieve that control. Prayer in action, pragmatism and the question of control in our reform. Very good indeed.
Well, let’s carry on. starting from Genesis, chapter 14, verse 15, onwards, on this topic. And I’d like to say thank you, Jacobson.
Indeed, every Tuesday that we’re together, we start to build a wider repertoire thanks to all the insights you’ve shared with us. And to all of you here with us, we’d like to extend the invitation once again. Send your questions via the QR code or through the chat.
And we’ll be collecting them. Whether it’s during the live stream or afterwards, we’ll be collecting your questions and comments. And it’s very important because that way we can also shape what’s to come based on your comments.
They help us a lot. Well, in the next episode, as Jacobson has already mentioned, we’ll continue with Topic 7, it will be episode 3, on fluid dynamics and the structure of the perispirit. Thank you very much to everyone; please share this programme with your friends, and thank you very much.
And may Jesus always inspire us. See you next week.
