2.2 Incarnation: Spirits in Human Bodies
The Purpose of Incarnation
God imposes incarnation for the purpose of leading spirits to perfection: for some, it is an expiation; for others, a mission. In order to reach this perfection, they must undergo all the vicissitudes of corporeal existence; therein lies their expiation. Incarnation has a further objective: to place spirits in situations where they can do their share in the work of creation. On each world, they clothe themselves with an instrument that is in harmony with the essential matter of that world so that they may use that instrument to carry out the orders of God. In this way, they contribute to the general work and to progress at the same time.
The action of corporeal beings is necessary for the evolution of the universe, but in divine wisdom God has willed that in this same action they might have a means of progressing and drawing near to God. Thus, through an admirable law of divine providence, everything is connected, and everything in nature is in solidarity.
Incarnation is necessary even for spirits who have followed the path of the good from the beginning. All are created simple and ignorant, gaining instruction through the struggles and tribulations of corporeal life. Since God is just, God would not make some blissful without their having deserved it through hardship and work.
The benefit for spirits who follow the path of the good, though it does not exempt them from the hardships of corporeal life, is that they reach the goal more quickly. Moreover, the hardships of life are often consequences of a spirit’s imperfections; the more purified it becomes, the fewer torments it will have to suffer. Spirits who are not envious, jealous, greedy, or ambitious will not have to endure the torments that result from such defects.
The Soul
The soul is “an incarnate spirit.” Before its union with a body, the soul was “a spirit.” Souls and spirits are therefore one and the same thing. Before uniting with a body, the soul is one of the intelligent beings who populate the invisible world, and it later temporarily assumes a physical envelope in order to purify and enlighten itself.
Human beings possess something else besides a soul and a body: the link that unites the soul and the body.
The Incarnation of Spirits
The nature of this link is semi-material, that is, halfway between the nature of the spirit and that of the body; these two natures need it in order to communicate with each other. It is through this link that the spirit acts upon matter, and vice versa.
Human beings thus consist of three essential parts:
- The body, or material being, similar to that of the animals and animated by the same vital principle;
- The soul, or incarnate spirit, which inhabits the body;
- The perispirit, or intermediary principle, a semi-material substance that serves as the primary envelope of the spirit and unites the soul with the body. These three together are like a fruit, which consists of the seed, the flesh, and the rind.
The soul is independent of the vital principle. The body itself is no more than an envelope, as has been repeatedly stated.
The body can exist without the soul. Nevertheless, when the body dies, the soul abandons it. Before birth, there is no decisive union between the soul and body. After this union is established, however, only the death of the body can cut the bonds between the two, enabling the soul to leave. Organic life may animate a body that has no soul, but the soul cannot inhabit a body that has no organic life.
Without a soul, the body would be a mass of flesh without intelligence, anything one might want to call it except a human being.
The same spirit cannot incarnate in two different bodies at the same time. The spirit is indivisible and cannot animate two different beings at the same time.
The opinion of those who regard the soul as being the principle of material life is only a matter of words. One should begin by trying to understand one another.
Certain spirits, and certain philosophers before them, have defined the soul as an animic spark that has emanated from the Great Whole. There is no contradiction; everything depends on the meaning of the words. The word soul is used to express very different things. Some call the soul the principle of life, and in this sense it is correct to state figuratively that the soul is an animic spark that has emanated from the Great Whole. These last two words refer to the universal source of the vital principle, of which each being absorbs a portion, and which returns to the Whole after death. This in no way excludes the idea of a moral being who is distinct from matter, independent of it, and who preserves its own individuality. This being is also called the soul, and according to this meaning one could say that the soul is an incarnate spirit. In giving different definitions to the soul, the Spirits have spoken according to their uses of the word and according to the terrestrial ideas with which they were imbued to varying degrees. Because human language does not have one term for each idea and is therefore inefficient, many misunderstandings and arguments have resulted. Hence the reason why high-order spirits tell us that one should first of all try to understand one another regarding the words used.
The theory that the soul is subdivided into as many parts as there are muscles, thus presiding over each of the body’s functions, also depends on the meaning attributed to the word soul. This definition is correct if by it is meant the vital fluid, but it is incorrect if the incarnate spirit is meant. It has already been stated that the spirit is indivisible: it transmits movement to the organs through the intermediary fluid without dividing itself. Ignorant spirits may take the effect for the cause.
The soul acts through the organs, which are animated by the vital fluid distributed among them, and it acts more abundantly in those organs that comprise the centers or focal points of movement. This explanation, however, cannot be applied to the soul as the spirit that inhabits the body during life and leaves it at death.
There is something correct in the opinion of those who think the soul is outside the body and surrounds it. The soul is not enclosed in the body like a caged bird. Rather, it radiates and manifests outside it like a light shining from a glass globe or a sound vibrating out from a sonorous center. So, in a certain sense, it may be said that it is outside the body; it is not an envelope of the body, however. The soul has two envelopes: the first is light and subtle, which is called the perispirit; the other is dense, material, and heavy, which is the body. The soul is the center of these two envelopes like a nut in its shell, as has already been said.
Another theory holds that a child’s soul continues to complete itself during each stage of life. The spirit is only one: as whole in the child as it is in the adult. Only the bodily organs, as instruments of the soul’s manifestation, develop and complete themselves. This is one more theory that takes the effect for the cause.
Not all spirits define the soul in the same way because not all spirits are equally enlightened regarding these matters. There are spirits who are still limited, who do not comprehend abstract ideas; they are like children living among you. There are also pseudo-learned spirits who make a great show of words in order to assert themselves, another similarity to your society. Furthermore, even enlightened spirits may express themselves in different terms that have the same meaning, especially regarding matters that your language is incapable of clarifying; hence the need for allegories and comparisons that you unfortunately take literally.
The world soul is the universal principle of life and intelligence from which individualities are born, but frequently those who use this expression do not understand it. The word soul is so flexible that everyone interprets it according to their own imaginings. At times, it has even been held that the earth itself has a soul, but by this it must be understood to mean the assembly of devoted spirits who direct your actions in the right direction when you listen to them, and who are, in a way, the lieutenants of God on your globe.
Many ancient and modern philosophers have discussed psychological science for so long without arriving at the truth because these individuals were the precursors of the eternal Spiritist Doctrine and prepared the way for it. Being human and therefore subject to error, they mistook their own ideas for the light. These same errors, however, have served to bring the truth to light through the pros and cons of their doctrines. A comparative study would enable one to understand that in the midst of error there is great truth.
The soul does not have a defined and circumscribed seat within the body, although it resides more particularly in the head among great geniuses and all those who think much, and in the heart of those who feel much, who dedicate all their actions to humankind.
Regarding the opinion of those who place the soul in some vital center, one could say that the spirit more especially inhabits such a part of your organism, since all the sensations converge on that point; but to place it in what may be considered the center of vitality would be to confuse it with the vital fluid or principle. Nevertheless, one could say that the seat of the soul may be found more particularly in the organs that serve for manifesting the intellectual and moral qualities.
Materialism
Anatomists, physiologists, and, in general, most of those who delve into the natural sciences are frequently led into materialism because they judge everything by what they see. Because of pride, humans imagine they know everything and cannot admit that something could possibly be beyond their understanding. Their own science thus makes them presumptuous. They think nature can hide nothing from them.
It is not true that materialism is a consequence of such studies. Rather, people draw a false conclusion from them, for they can abuse even the very best of things. Moreover, nothingness troubles them more than they would have you believe, and high-minded individuals are almost always more boastful than brave. Most of them are materialists because they have nothing available to fill the void of the abyss that has opened before them. However, throw them a life preserver, and they will eagerly grasp it.
It is an aberration of the intelligence that leads some to see nothing in organic beings but the action of matter as the basis of all our actions. They see nothing in the human body except an electrical apparatus, and they have not studied the mechanism of life except in the functioning of the organs. They have seen life extinguished many times by a ruptured artery, but they perceive nothing except that artery. They have tried to discern whether there might be something else, but they have found nothing but inert matter. Moreover, since they have not seen the soul escape or been able to capture it, they have concluded that everything rests in the properties of matter and that, after death, the mind is reduced to nothingness. This would be a sad conclusion if it were true, because then good and evil would have no meaning. People would be justified in thinking only of themselves and in placing the satisfaction of material pleasures above everything else. Social ties would be broken, and the holiest affections would be destroyed forever. Fortunately, such ideas are far from being the rule; one could even say that they are very circumscribed, composed of nothing more than individual opinions, and nowhere erected as a doctrine. A society founded on such a basis would contain its own seeds of dissolution, and its members would tear each other to pieces like wild animals.
Humans instinctively hold to the conviction that things do not end for them once life is over—they abhor the idea of nothingness. In vain they rebel against the idea of a future life, and when the supreme moment arrives, there are only a few who do not ask what will become of them, because the idea of leaving life behind forever is too painful. Who indeed could indifferently face absolute and eternal separation from everything that has been loved? Who could watch without terror the immense abyss of nothingness opening before them, ready to swallow forever all their faculties and all their hopes, and at the same time say, “That’s it! After me there’s nothing, nothing but nothingness; everything is gone without appeal. A few days from now any remembrance of me will be gone from the memory of those surviving me, and there will be no trace of my passage on the earth. Even the good I have done will be forgotten by the ingrates I’ve served, and there is nothing to compensate me for this, no prospect except my body being devoured by worms!”
There is something horrifying and chilling in this picture. Religion teaches us that it cannot be like this, and reason confirms it, but a vague and undefined future existence brings nothing to satisfy our love of the pragmatic. This is what has engendered doubt in so many. It is correct to believe we have a soul, but what is it? Does it have any kind of form or appearance? Is it a limited or undefined being? Some say it is a breath of God; others say it is a spark, while still others state that it is part of the Great Whole, the principle of life and intelligence. But what does all this offer us? What does having a soul matter to us if after death it is merged with the immensity like drops of water in the ocean? Is losing our individuality not the same as nothingness? It is also said that the soul is immaterial. However, an immaterial object cannot have defined proportions, and so for us it is the same as nothingness. Religion also teaches us that we shall be happy or unhappy according to the good or evil we have done. But what is the happiness that awaits us in the heart of God? Is it blissfulness, an eternal contemplation with no other concern than singing praises to the Creator? And are the flames of hell a reality or only a symbol? The Church itself generally understands them in the latter sense. What then are the sufferings of hell? Where is this place of punishment? In short, what do we actually do, and what do we actually see, in that other world that waits for each one of us?
It is usually stated that no one has ever returned to give us an account of what exists “over there.” That, however, is an error, and Spiritism’s mission is precisely to enlighten us regarding that future, to enable us to see and touch it to a certain extent, no longer through reason only but through actual phenomena. Thanks to spirit communications, the matter no longer involves pure conjecture, nor is it solely a probability that each one paints at will, or something that poets embellish with their fictions or dress up in allegorical images that seduce us. Instead, it is a reality that has shown its face to us, in that actual beings from beyond the grave have come to tell us about their situation there and what they do there. They have allowed us to watch, so to speak, the events of their new life, thereby showing us the inevitable fate reserved for us according to our own merits or wrongs. There is nothing anti-Christian in this. Quite the contrary, disbelievers have found faith as a result, and the lukewarm have enjoyed a renewal of zeal and confidence. Hence, Spiritism is Christianity’s most powerful aid. If such is the case, it is because God has allowed it. God enables it to reanimate our wavering hopes and lead us onto the path of the good through hope for the future.