Day 99: The Genotype Diet; Paulo Coelho & Re-posted Allan Kardec extracts

Today's extract is from Paulo Coelho's The Manual of the Warrior of Light. After this, I am re-posting the extracts from The Spirits' Book and The Gospel According To Spiritism, both by Allan Kardec, so that they can be translated by those who don't have English as a first language (the translation tools can't translate scanned text images).

"The warrior of light is a believer.

Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, that love appears.

Now and then, he is disappointed. Sometimes, he gets hurt.

Then he hears people say: ‘He’s so ingenuous!’

But the warrior knows that it is worth it. For every defeat, he has two victories in his favour.

All believers know this."

Also, here is advance news about Dr Peter J. D'Adamo's exciting new book due out in December, entitled The Genotype Diet taken from an expert blog on the blood type website http://dadamo.com

WEBlog: Dr. Tom Greenfield

Beyond blood type: The GenoType™ Diet Revealed

The IfHI Conference 2007 - The Buttes, Phoenix, AZ.
What a great conference: lots of speakers with new information on
genetics and individuality, all giving the background information
for the new concept revealed by Dr. D'Adamo.

The Book The GenoType™ Diet is to be on sale from December 26th,
2007. The concept takes us beyond blood types, to a new
categorisation of 6 distinct genotypes:

The Hunter
The Gatherer
The Teacher
The Explorer
The Warrior
The Nomad

Although these genotypes include blood group and secretor status
information, they do not all exclusively relate to one single blood
type: individuals fitting into certain genotypes may have one of
several possible blood types. The new additions to the genotypes
over and above the genetic information associated with blood types
includes many easily accessible measurements:

Dermatoglyphic (fingerprint) patterns
D2-D4 ratio (second and fourth finger length)
Tooth shape
Upper to lower leg ratio
Body shape
Head shape

These are associated with 'epigenetic' factors that do not change
the actual genes of the individual, but influence how they are
expressed, like a volume control that can be moved up or down to
vary the amount that a certain gene interacts with the environment.

Other influencing factors on a person's genotype include both
ancestral DNA haplogroups and ayurvedic doshas. It looks like the
result will be the fusion of ancient wisdom, anthropometric
techniques from the last century, and modern cutting edge genetic
science - with a strong influence from the blood type information
that is associated with diet and health.

Each genotype has different disease risks and health benefits, and
the book will outline the best preventitive (sic) strategies for each
type. It promises to be a new generation of naturopathic medicine."




THE SPIRITS' BOOK by ALLAN KARDEC

CHAPTER VIII

EMANCIPATION OF THE SOUL

1. SLEEP AND DREAMS - 2. VISITS BETWEEN THE SPIRITS OF LIVING PERSONS 3. TRANSMISSION OF THOUGHT - 4. LETHARGY, CATALEPSY: APPARENT DEATH - 5. SOMNAMBULISM - 6. TRANCE - 7. SECOND SIGHT - 8.THEORY OF SOMNAMBULISM, TRANCE, AND SECOND-SIGHT.

Sleep and Dreams

400. Does the incarnated spirit reside willingly in his corporeal envelope?
"You might as well ask whether a prisoner willingly remains locked up in prison. The incarnated spirit aspires incessantly after his deliverance; and the grosser his envelope, the more desirous is he to be rid of it."

401. Does the soul take rest, like the body, during sleep?
"No; a spirit is never inactive. The bonds which unite him to the body are relaxed during sleep; and as the body does not then need his presence, he travels through space, and enters into more direct relation with other spirits."

402. How can we ascertain the fact of a spirit's liberty during sleep?
"By dreams. Be very sure that, when his body is asleep, a spirit enjoys the use of faculties of which he is unconscious while his body is awake. He remembers the past, and sometimes foresees the future: he acquires more power, and is able to enter into communication with other spirits, either in this world or in some other.

"You often say, 'I have had a strange dream, a frightful dream, without any likeness to reality'. You are mistaken in thinking it to be so; for it is often a reminiscence of places and things which you have seen in the past, or a foresight of those which you will see in another existence, or in this one at some future time. The body being torpid, the spirit tries to break his chain, and seeks, in the past or in the future, for the means of doing so.

"Poor human beings! how little do you know of the commonest phenomena of your life! You fancy yourselves to be very learned, and you are puzzled by the most ordinary things. To questions that any child might ask, `What do we do when we are asleep?' 'What are dreams?' you are incapable of replying.

"Sleep effects a partial freeing of the soul from the body. When you sleep, your spirit is, for the time being, in the state in which you will be after your death. The spirits who at death are promptly freed from matter are those who, during their life, have had what may be called intelligent sleep. Such persons, when they sleep, regain the society of other spirits superior to themselves. They go about with them, conversing with them, and gaining instruction from them; they even work, in the spirit-world, at undertakings which, on dying, they find already begun or completed. From this you see how little death should be dreaded, since, according to the saying of St. Paul, you 'die daily.'

"What we have just stated refers to spirits of an elevated degree of advancement. As for those of the common mass of men, who, after their death, remain for long hours in the state of confusion and uncertainty of which you have been told by such, they go, during sleep, into worlds of lower rank than the earth, to which they are drawn back by old affections, or by the attraction of pleasures still baser than those to which they are addicted in your world; visits in which they gather ideas still viler, more ignoble, and more mischievous than those which they had professed during their waking hours. And that which engenders sympathy in the earthly life is nothing else than the fact that you feel yourselves, on waking, affectionately attracted towards those with whom you have passed eight or nine hours of happiness or pleasure. On the other hand, the explanation of the invincible antipathies you sometimes feel for certain persons is also to be found in the intuitive knowledge you have thus acquired of the fact that those persons have another conscience than yours, because you know them without having previously seen them with your bodily eyes. It is this same fact, moreover, that explains the indifference of some people for others; they do not care to make new friends, because they know that they have others by whom they are loved and cherished. In a word, sleep has more influence than you think upon your life.

"Through the effects of sleep, incarnated spirits are always in connection with the spirit-world; and it is in consideration of this fact that spirits of a higher order consent, without much repugnance, to incarnate themselves among you. God has willed that, during their contact with vice, they may go forth and fortify themselves afresh at the source of rectitude, in order that they, who have come into your world to instruct others, may not fall into evil themselves. Sleep is the gate opened for them by God, that they may pass through it to their friends in the spirit-world; it is their recreation after labour, while awaiting the great deliverance, the final liberation, that will restore them to their true place.

"Dreams are the remembrance of what your spirit has seen during sleep; but you must remark that you do not always dream, because you do not always remember what you have seen, or all that you have seen. Your dreams do not always reflect the action of your soul in its full development; for they are often only the reflex of the confusion that accompanies your departure or your return, mingled with the vague remembrance of what you have done, or of what has occupied your thoughts, in your waking state. In what other way can you explain the absurd dreams which are dreamed by the wisest as by the silliest of mankind? Bad spirits, also, make use of dreams to torment weak and timid souls.

"You will see, ere long, the development of another kind of dream, a kind which is as ancient as the one you know, but one of which you are ignorant. The dream we allude to is that of Jeanne Darc (Joan of Arc), of Jacob, of the Jewish prophets, and of certain Hindoo ascetics - a dream which is the remembrance of the soul's experiences while entirely freed from the body, the remembrance of the second life, of which I spoke just now.

"You should carefully endeavour, to distinguish these two kinds of dreams among those which you are able to recall: unless you do this, you will be in danger of falling into contradictions and errors that would be prejudicial to your belief."

Dreams are a product of the emancipation of the soul, rendered more active by the suspension of the active life of relation, and enjoying a sort of indefinite clairvoyance which extends to places at a great distance from us, or that we have never seen, or even to other worlds. To this state of emancipation is also due the remembrance which retraces to our memory the events that have occurred in our present existence or in preceding existences; the strangeness of the images of what has taken place in worlds unknown to us, mixed up with the things of the present world, producing the confused and whimsical medleys that seem to be equally devoid of connection and of meaning.

The incoherence of dreams is still farther explained by the gaps resulting from the incompleteness of our remembrance of what has appeared to us in our nightly visions - an incompleteness similar to that of a narrative from which whole sentences, or parts of sentences, have been omitted by chance, and whose remaining fragments, having been thrown together again at random, have lost all intelligent meaning.

403. Why do we not always remember our dreams?
"What you call sleep is only the repose of the body, for the spirit is always in motion. During sleep he recovers a portion of his liberty, and enters into communication with those who are dear to him, either in this world, or in other worlds; but as the matter of the body is heavy and gross, it is difficult for him to retain, on waking, the impressions he has received during sleep, because those impressions were not received by him through the bodily organs."

404. What is to be thought of the signification attributed to dreams?
"Dreams are not really indications in the sense attributed to them by fortune-tellers; for it is absurd to believe that a certain kind of dream announces the happening of a certain kind of event. But they are indications in this sense - viz., that they present images which are real for the spirit, though they may have nothing to do with what takes place in his present corporeal life. Dreams are also, in many cases, as we have said, a remembrance; they may also be sometimes a presentiment of the future, if permitted by God, or the sight of something which is taking place at the time in some other place to which the soul has transported Itself. Have you not many instances proving that persons may appear to their relatives and friends in dreams, and give them notice of what is happening to them? What are apparitions, if not the soul or spirit of persons who come to communicate with you? When you acquire the certainty that what you saw has really taken place, is it not a proof that it was no freak of your imagination, especially if what you saw were something which you had not thought of when you were awake?"

405. We often see in dreams things which appear to be presentiments, but which do not come to pass, - how is this?
"Those things may take place in the experience of the spirit, though not in that of the body; that is to say, that the spirit sees what he wishes to see because he goes to find it. You must not forget that, during sleep, the spirit is always more or less under the influence of matter; that, consequently, he is never completely free from terrestrial ideas, and that the objects of his waking thoughts may therefore give to his dreams the appearance of what he desires or of what he fears, thus producing what may be properly termed an effect of the imagination. When the mind is much busied with any idea, it is apt to connect everything it sees with that idea."

406. When, in a dream, we see persons who are well known to us doing things which they are not in any way thinking of, is it not a mere effect of the imagination?
"Of which they are not thinking? How do you know that it is so? Their spirit may come to visit ours, as yours may go to visit theirs; and you do not always know, in your waking state, what they may be thinking of. And besides, you often, in your dreams, apply to persons whom you know, and according to your own desires, reminiscences of what took place, or is taking place, in other existences."

407. Is it necessary to the emancipation of the soul that the sleep of the body should be complete?
"No; the spirit recovers his liberty as soon as the senses become torpid. He takes advantage, in order to emancipate himself, of every moment of respite left him by the body. As soon as there occurs any prostration of the vital forces, the spirit disengages himself from the body, and the feebler the body, the freer is the spirit."

It is for this reason that dozing, or a mere dulling of the senses, often presents the same images as dreaming.

408. We sometimes seem to hear within ourselves words distinctly pronounced, but having no connection with what we are thinking of,-what is the cause o f this?
"Yes, you often hear words, and even whole sentences, especially when your senses begin to grow torpid. It is sometimes the faint echo of the utterance of a spirit who wishes to communicate with you."

409. Often, when only half-asleep, and with our eyes closed, we see distinct images, figures of which we perceive the minutest details, - is this an effect of vision or of imagination?
"The body being torpid, the spirit tries to break his chain. He goes away and sees; if the sleep were deeper, the vision would be a dream."

410. We sometimes, when asleep, or half-asleep, have ideas which seem to us to be excellent, but which, despite all the efforts we make to recall them, are effaced from our memory on waking, - whence come these ideas?
"They are the result of the freedom of the spirit, who emancipates himself from the body, and enjoys the use of other faculties during this moment of liberty; and they are often counsels given you by other spirits."

- What is the use of such ideas and counsels, since we lose the remembrance of them, and cannot profit by them?
"Those ideas often belong rather to the world of spirits than to the corporeal world; but, in general, though the body may forget them, the spirit remembers them, and the idea recurs to him at the proper time, in his waking state, as though it were an inspiration of the moment."

411. Does the incarnated spirit, when he is freed from matter and acting as a spirit, know the epoch of his death?
"He often has the presentiment of it. He sometimes has a very clear foreknowledge of it; and it is this which gives him the intuition of it in his waking state. It is this, also, which enables some persons to foresee the time of their death with perfect exactness."

412. Can the activity of the spirit, during the repose or the sleep of the body, cause fatigue to the latter?
"Yes, for the spirit is attached to the body, as the captive-balloon is fastened to the post; and, just as the post is shaken by the movements of the balloon, so the activity of the spirit reacts upon the body, and may cause it to feel fatigued."

Visits Between the Spirits of Living Persons

413. The emancipation of the soul during sleep would seem to indicate that we live simultaneously two lives; the life of the body, which is that of exterior relation, and the life of the soul, which it that of occult relation, - is this so?
"During the emancipation of the soul, the life of the latter takes precedence of the life of the body; this, however, does not, strictly speaking, constitute two lives, but rather two phases of one and the same life, for a man: does not live a double life."

414. Can two persons, who are acquainted with each other, visit one another in sleep?
"Yes; and many others, who, in their waking state, do not know that they are acquainted, meet and converse together. You may, without suspecting it, have friends in another country. The fact of going, during sleep, to visit friends, relatives, acquaintances, persons who can be of use to you, is extremely frequent; and you yourselves accomplish these visits almost every night."

415. What can be the use of these nocturnal meetings, since we do not remember them?
"The intuition of them generally remains with you in your waking state, and is often the origin of ideas which afterwards occur to you, as it were, spontaneously, without your being able to account for them, but which are really those you had obtained in the spirit-intercourse carried on by you during your sleep."

416. Can a man ensure the making of spirit-visits by the exertion of his will? Can he do so, for example, by saying to himself, on going to sleep, "I will to-night meet such and such a person in spirit, and speak with him about such and such a thing"?
"This is what takes place. The man falls asleep, and his spirit wakens to the other life; but his spirit is often very far from following out the plan which had been resolved upon by the man, for the life of the man excites but little interest in a spirit when he is emancipated from matter. This statement, however, only applies to men who have already reached a. certain degree of elevation. The others pass their spirit-existence very differently. They give free rein to their passions, or remain inactive. It may happen, therefore, according to the aim of the proposed action, that a spirit may go to see the parties he had, as a man, proposed to visit; but it does not follow that, because he has willed to do so in his waking state, he will necessarily do so in his state of freedom."

417. Can a number of incarnate spirits, during sleep, meet together, and form assemblies?
"Undoubtedly they can. The ties of friendship, old or new, often bring together spirits who are happy to be in each other's company."

By the term old must be understood the ties of friendship contracted in anterior existences. We bring back with us, on waking, an intuition of the ideas which we have derived from these occult meetings, but of the source of which we are ignorant.

418. If a person believed one of his friends to be dead who is not dead, could he meet him as a spirit, and thus learn that he is living? Could he, in such a case, preserve the intuition of this fact on waking?
"He could, certainly, as a spirit, see his friend, and know what is his situation; and if the belief in the death of that friend had not been imposed on him as an expiation, he might retain an impression of his existence, as, in the contrary case, he might retain that of his death:"

Occult Transmission of Thought

419. Whence comes it that the same idea - that of a discovery, for instance - so often suggests itself at the same time to several persons, although they may be at a distance from one another?
"We have already said that, during sleep, spirits communicate with one another; well, when his body awakes, a spirit remembers what he has learned, and the man thinks he has invented it. Thus several persons may find out the same thing at the same time. When you say that an idea is 'in the air,' you employ a figure of speech that is much nearer the truth than you suppose. Every one helps unconsciously to propagate it."

In this way our spirit often reveals to other spirits, without our being aware of it, that which formed the object of our meditations before we went to sleep.

420. Can spirits communicate between themselves when the body is awake?
"A spirit is not enclosed in his body as in a box, but radiates around it in every direction. He can, therefore, hold communication with other spirits even in the waking state, although he does so with more difficulty."

421. How does it happen that two persons, perfectly awake, often have the same thought at the same moment?
"It is because two spirits, who are in sympathy, may communicate their thought to each other even when the body is not asleep."

There is, between spirits, a communication of thoughts which sometimes enables two persons to see and understand one another without having any need of human speech. They may be said to speak the language of spirits.

Lethargy, Catalepsy, Apparent Death

422. In lethargy and catalepsy, the patients generally see and hear what takes place around them, but are unable to manifest their impressions. Is it through the eyes and ears of the body that these impressions are received?
"No; they are received by the spirit. The spirit is conscious but cannot express himself."

- Why can he not express himself?
"The state of his body prevents his doing so; and this state of his bodily organs proves that man consists of something more than a body, since the body no longer works, and yet the spirit acts."

423. Can a spirit, in a state of lethargy, separate from his body, so as to give to the latter all the outward appearances of death, and afterwards come back and inhabit it?
"In lethargy, the body is not dead, for it still accomplishes some of its functions. Its vitality is latent, as in the chrysalis, but is not annihilated; and a spirit is united to his body as long as it remains alive. When once the links which keep them together are broken by the death and disaggregation of the bodily organs, the separation is complete, and the spirit never again comes back to his body. When one who is apparently dead comes to life again, it is because the process of death was not entirely consummated."

424. Is it possible, by means of timely help, to renew the ties which were ready to break, and to give back life to a person who, but for this help, would have definitively ceased to live?
"Yes, undoubtedly; and you have proofs of this every day. Mesmerism often exercises, in such cases, a powerful restorative action, because it gives to the body the vital fluid which it lacks, and which is necessary to keep up the play of the organs."

Lethargy and catalepsy proceed from the same cause, viz., the temporary loss of sensibility and power of motion, from some as yet unexplained physiological condition. They differ in this respect, viz., that, in lethargy, the suppression of the vital force is general, and gives to the body all the appearances of death, whereas, in catalepsy, that suppression is localised, and may affect a more or less extensive portion of the body, while leaving the intelligence free to manifest itself; a fact which does not allow it to be confounded with death. Lethargy is always natural; catalepsy is sometimes spontaneous, but it may be produced and dissipated artificially by mesmeric action.

Somnambulism

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 hit 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 know 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.

132. 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."

Trance

439. What difference is there between trance and somnambulism?
"Trance is a more refined somnambulism. The soul, when in trance, is still more independent."

440. Does the soul of the ecstatic really enter into higher worlds?
"Yes; he sees them, and perceives the happiness of those who are in them; but there are worlds that are inaccessible to spirits who are not sufficiently purified."

441. When a person in trance expresses the desire to quit the earth, does he speak sincerely, and is he not retained by the instinct of self-preservation?
"That depends on the degree of the spirit's purification. If he sees that his future situation will be better than his present one, he makes an effort to break the links that bind him to the earth."

442. If the ecstatic were left to himself, might his soul definitively quit his body?
"Yes, he might die; and it is therefore necessary to call him back by everything that may attach him to the lower life, and especially by making him see that, if he breaks the chain which keeps him here, he will have taken the most effectual means of preventing his staying in the world in which he perceives that he would be happy."

443. The ecstatic sometimes professes to see things which are evidently the product of an imagination impressed with earthly beliefs and prejudices. What he sees, therefore, is not always real?
"What he sees is real for him; but, as his spirit is always under the influence of terrestrial ideas, he may see it in his own way, or, to speak more correctly, he may express it in a language accommodated, to his prejudices, or to the ideas in which he has been brought up, or to your own, in order the better to make himself understood. It is in this way that he is most apt to err."

444. What degree of confidence should be accorded to the revelations of persons in a state of trance?
"The ecstatic may very frequently be mistaken, especially when he seeks to penetrate what must remain a mystery for man; for he then abandons himself to his own ideas, or becomes the sport of deceiving spirits, who take advantage of his enthusiasm to dazzle him with false appearances."

445. What inductions are to be drawn from the phenomena of somnambulism and of trance? May they not be considered as a sort of initiation into the future life?
"It would be more correct to say that, in those states, the somnambulist may obtain glimpses of his past and future lives. Let man study those phenomena; he will find in them the solution of more than one mystery which his unassisted reason seeks in
vain to penetrate."

446. Could the phenomena of somnambulism and trance be made to accord with theoretic materialism?
"He who should study them honestly, and without preconceived ideas, could not be either a materialist or an atheist."

Second-Sight

447. Is there any connection between the phenomena of what is designated as second-sight and those of dreaming and somnambulism?
"They are all the same thing. What you call second-sight is also a state in which the spirit is partially free, although the body is not asleep. Second-sight is soul-sight."

448. Is the faculty of second-sight a permanent one?
"The faculty of second-sight is permanent, but its exercise is not. In worlds less material than yours, spirits free themselvesfrom matter more easily, and enter into communication with one another simply by thought, without, however, excluding the use of articulate speech. In those worlds, second-sight is, for the greater part of their inhabitants, a permanent faculty. Their normal state may lie compared to that of lucid somnambulism among you; and it is for this reason that they manifest themselves to you more easily than those who are incarnated in bodies of a grosser nature."

449. Does second-sight occur spontaneously, or through an exertion of the will of those who possess that faculty?
"It generally occurs spontaneously; but the will, nevertheless, often plays an important part in producing this phenomenon. Take, for example, the persons who are called fortune-tellers - and some of whom really have that power - and you will find that the action of their will helps them to this second-sight, and to what you call vision."

450. Is second-sight susceptible of being developed by exercise
"Yes; effort always leads to progress, and the veil which covers things becomes more transparent."

- Is this faculty a result of physical organisation?
"Organisation has undoubtedly a great deal to do with it; there are organisations with which it is incompatible."

451. How is it that second-sight appears to be hereditary in certain families?
"This proceeds from similarity of organisation, which is transmitted, like other physical qualities; and also from the development of the faculty through a sort of education, which, also, is transmitted from one generation to another."

452. Is it true that circumstances develop second-sight?
"Illness, the approach of danger, any great commotion, may develop it. The body is sometimes in a state which allows of the spirit's seeing what cannot be seen with the fleshly eye."

Times of crisis and of calamity, powerful emotions, all the causes, in short, which excite the moral nature, may develop second-sight. It would seem as though Providence gave us, when in the presence of danger, the means of escaping it. All sects and all parties subjected to persecution have offered numerous instances of this fact.

453. Are the persons who are gifted with second-sight always conscious of their faculty?
"Not always; it appears to them to be altogether natural, and many of them suppose that, if everybody observed their own impressions, they would find themselves to be possessed of the same power."

454. May we attribute to a sort of second-sight the perspicacity of those persons who, without being remarkably gifted in other ways, possess an unusually clear judgment in relation to the things of everyday life?
"Such clearness of judgment is always due to a freer radiation of the soul, enabling the man to see more correctly than those whose perceptions are more densely veiled by matter."

- Can this lucidity of judgment, in some cases, give the foreknowledge of future events?
"Yes, it may give presentiments; for there are many degrees in this faculty, and the same person may possess all those degrees, as he may possess only some of them."

Explanation of Somnambulism, Trance, and Second-Sight.

455. The phenomena of natural somnambulism occur spontaneously and independently of any known external cause; but, in persons endowed with a special organisation, they may be produced artificially through the action of the mesmeric agent. The only difference between the state designated as mesmeric somnambulism and natural somnambulism is, that the one is artificially produced, while the other is spontaneous.

Natural somnambulism is a notorious fact, the reality of which few now dispute, notwithstanding the marvellous character of the phenomena it presents. Why, then, should mesmeric somnambulism be regarded as more extraordinary or incredible, simply because it is produced artificially, like so many other things? It has been abused by charlatans, some persons will reply; but that fact only affords an additional reason for not leaving it in their hands. When science shall have taken possession of it; charlatanism will have much less credit with the masses; but, meanwhile, as somnambulism, both natural and artificial, is a fact, and as a fact cannot be argued down, it is making its way, despite the ill-will of its adversaries; and obtaining a footing even in the temple of science, which it is entering by a multitude of side-doors, instead of entering by the principal one. Its right to be there will, ere long, be fully recognised.

For the spiritist, somnambulism is more than a physical phenomenon; it is a light thrown on the subject of psychology; it is a state in which we can study the soul, because in it the soul shows itself, so to say, without covering. Now, one of the phenomena which characterise the soul is clear-seeing independently of the ordinary visual organs. Those who contest this fact do so on the ground that the somnambulist does not see at all times, and at the will of the experimentalist, as with the eyes. Need we be astonished if, the means employed being different, the results are not the same? Is it reasonable to demand identical effects in cases in which the instruments employed are not the same? The soul has its properties just as has the eye; and the former must be judged of by themselves, and not by analogy with the latter.

The cause of the clairvoyance of the mesmeric and of the natural somnambulist is identically the same: it is an attribute of the soul, a faculty inherent in every part of the incorporeal being which is in us, and has no other limits than those assigned to the soul itself. The somnambulist sees wherever his soul can transport itself, at no matter what distance.

In sight at distance, the somnambulist does not see from the point at which his body is, and as though through a telescope. The things he sees are present with him, as though he were at the place where they exist, because his soul is there in reality; and it is for this reason that his body is, as it were, annihilated, and seems to be deprived of sensation, until the moment when the soul comes back and retakes possession of it. This partial separation of the soul and the body is an abnormal state, which may last for a longer or shorter time, but not indefinitely; it is the cause of the fatigue felt by the body after a certain lapse of time, especially when the soul during that partial separation, busies itself with some active pursuit. The fact that soul-sight or espirit-sight is not circumscribed, and has no definite seat, explains why somnambulists are unable to assign to it any special organ or focus. They see, because they see, without knowing why or how; their sight, as spirit-sight, having no special focus. If they refer their perception to their body, this focus seems to them to be in the organic centres in which the vital activity is greatest, especially in the brain, in. the epigastric region, or in whatever organ appears to them to be the point at which the bond between the spirit and the body is most tenacious.

The scope of somnambulistic lucidity is not unlimited. A spirit, even when completely free, only possesses the faculties and the knowledge appertaining to the degree of advancement at which he has arrived, a limitation which becomes still further narrowed when he is united with matter, and thus subjected to its influence. This is the reason why somnambulistic clairvoyance is neither universal nor infallible; and its infallibility is all the less to be counted on when it is turned aside from the aim which has been assigned to it by nature, and made a mere matter of curiosity and experimentation.

In the state of comparative freedom in which the somnambulist finds himself, he enters more easily into communication with other spirits, incarnate or disincarnate; and this communication is established through the contact of the fluids which compose their perispirits, and serve, like the electric wire, for the transmission of thought. The somnambulist, therefore, has no need of articulate speech as a vehicle of thought, which he feels and divines; a mode of perception that renders him eminently accessible to, and impressionable by, the influences of the moral atmosphere in which he finds himself. For the same reason, a numerous concourse of spectators, and especially of those who are attracted by a more or less malevolent curiosity, is essentially unfavourable to the manifestation of his peculiar faculties, which close up, so to say, at the contact of hostile influences, and only unfold freely in intimacy, and under the influence of sympathetic surroundings. The presence of those who are malevolent or antipathetic produces upon him the effect of the contact of the hand upon a sensitive plant.

The somnambulist sees, at the same time, his own spirit and his body; they are, so to say, two beings which represent to him his double existence, spiritual and corporeal, and which, nevertheless. are blended into one by the ties which united them together. The somnambulist does not always comprehend this duality, which often leads him to speak of himself as though he were speaking of another person; in such cases, the corporeal being sometimes speaking to the spiritual being, and the spiritual being sometimes speaking to the corporeal being.

The spirit acquires an increase of knowledge and experience in each of his corporeal existences. He loses sight of part of these gains during his reincarnation in matter, which is too gross to allow of his remembering them in their entirety; but he remembers them as a spirit. It is thus that some somnambulists give evidence of possessing knowledge beyond their present degree of instruction, and even of their apparent intellectual capacity. The intellectual and scientific inferiority of a somnambulist in his waking state, therefore, proves nothing against his possession of the knowledge he may display in his lucid state. According to the circumstances of the moment and the aim proposed, he may draw this knowledge from the stores of his own experience, from his clairvoyant perception of things actually occurring, or from the counsels which he receives from other spirits; but, in proportion as his own spirit is more or less advanced, he will make his statements more or less correctly.

In the phenomena of somnambulism, whether natural or mesmeric, Providence furnishes us with undeniable proof of the existence and independence of the soul, by causing us to witness the sublime spectacle of its emancipation from the fetters of the body, and thus enabling us to read our future destiny as in an open book. When a somnambulist describes what is taking place at a distance, it is equally evident that he sees what he describes, and that he does not see it with his bodily eyes. He sees himself at that distant point, and he feels himself to be transported thither. Something of himself, therefore, is really present at that distant point; and that something, not being his body, can only be his soul or his spirit.

While man, in search of the causes of his moral being, loses himself in abstract and unintelligible metaphysical subtleties, God places daily before his eyes, and within reach of his hand, the simplest and most certain means for the study of experimental psychology.

Trance is the state in which the soul's independence of the body is made most clearly visible, and, so to say, palpable, to the senses of the observer.

In dreaming and somnambulism, the soul wanders among terrestrial worlds; in trance, it penetrates into a sphere of existence of another order, into that of the etherealised spirits with whom it enters into communication, without, however, being able to overstep certain limits which it could not pass without entirely breaking the links that attach it to the body. Surrounded by novel splendours, enraptured by harmonies unknown to earth, penetrated by bliss that defies description, the soul enjoys a foretaste of celestial beatitude, and may be said to have placed one foot on the threshold of eternity.

In the state of trance, the annihilation of corporeal ties is almost complete. The body no longer possesses anything more than organic life; and we feel that the soul is only held thereto by a single thread, which any further effort on its part would break for ever.

In this state, all earthly thoughts disappear, and give place to the purified perception that is the very essence of our immaterial being. Entirely absorbed in this sublime contemplation, the ecstatic regards the earthly life as being merely a momentary halt upon our eternal way; the successes and misfortunes of this lower world, its gross joys and sorrows, appear to him only as the futile incidents of a journey of which he is delighted to foresee the end.

It is with ecstatics as with somnambulists; their lucidity may be more or less perfect, and their spirit, according as it is more or less elevated, is also more or less apt to apprehend the truth of things. In their abnormal state, there is sometimes more of nervous excitement than of true lucidity; or, to speak more correctly, their nervous excitement impairs their lucidity, and, for this reason, their revelations are often a mixture of truths and errors, of sublime ideas and absurd or even ridiculous fancies. Inferior spirits often take advantage of this nervous excitement (which is always a source of weakness to those who are unable to control it), in order to subjugate the ecstatic; and to this end they assume to his eyes the appearances which confirm him in the ideas and prejudices of his waking state. This subjugation of clairvoyants by the presentation of false appearances is the "rock ahead" of this order of revealment. But all of them are not equally subject to this dangerous misleading; and it is for us to weigh their statements coolly and carefully, and to judge their revelations by the light of science and of reason.

The emancipation of the soul occurs sometimes in the waking state, and gives, to those who are endowed with the faculty designated by the name of second-sight, the power of seeing, hearing, and feeling, beyond the limits of the bodily senses. They
perceive things at a distance, at all points to which their soul extends its action; they see them, so to say, athwart their ordinary sight, and as though in a sort of mirage.

At the moment when the phenomenon of second-sight occurs, the physical state of the seer is visibly modified. His glance becomes vague; he looks before him without seeing; his physiognomy reflects an abnormal state of the nervous system. It is
evident that his organs of sight have nothing to do with his present perceptions; for his vision continues, even when his eyes are shut. The faculty of second-sight appears to those who are endowed with it to be as natural as ordinary sight. It seems to them to be an attribute of their being; and they are not aware of its exceptional character. They generally forget this fugitive lucidity, the remembrance of which, becoming more and more vague, disappears at length from their memory like a dream.

The power of second-sight varies from a confused sensation to a clear and distinct perception of things present or distant. In its rudimentary state, it gives to some persons tact, perspicacity, a sort of sureness, in their decisions and actions, that may be styled the rectitude of the moral glance. At a higher degree of development, it awakens presentiments; still further developed, it shows to the seer events that have already happened, or that are about to happen.

Natural and artificial somnambulism, trance, and second-sight are only varieties or modifications of the action of one and the same cause. Like dreams, they are a branch of natural phenomena, and have therefore existed in every age. History shows us that they have been known, and even abused, from the remotest antiquity; and they furnish the explanation of innumerable facts which superstitious prejudices have led men to regard as supernatural.

from The Gospel According To Spiritism by Allan Kardec:

CHAPTER 25

SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND

If you help yourself then Heaven will come to your aid. - Behold the fowls of the air. - Provide not gold in your purse.

IF YOU HELP YOURSELF THEN HEAVEN WILL COME TO YOUR AID

1. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you: for every one who asks will receive; and he that seeks will find; and to him that knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there amongst you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, which is in Heaven, give good things to those that ask Him?" (MATTHEW, 7: 7-11.)

2. From an earthly point of view the maxim 'Seek and you will find'; is the same as that other one `Help yourself and the heavens will come to your aid.' This is the base of the Law of Work and consequently the Law of Progress, since progress is the child of work, seeing that this puts into action the force of intelligence.

During the infancy of Humanity, Man only used his intelligence in seeking food, as a means of protection against the climate, and defending himself from his enemies. However, God has given Man something more than He gave to animals, which is an incessant desire to better himself. It is this desire that impels him to seek out the best ways of improving his position in life, which duly leads him to make discoveries, to invent things, and to perfect the sciences because it is science that gives him what he lacks. Through Man's research his intelligence heightens and his morals gradually become purified. The needs of the body give way to those of the Spirit. After material nourishment Man needs spiritual nourishment. This is how he passes from savagery to civilisation.

But the amount of progress achieved by each person during a single lifetime is very small indeed, in most cases even imperceptible. How then could humanity progress without pre-existence and the re-existence of the soul? If the souls who daily leave the Earth were never to return, then humanity would be constantly renewing itself with primitive elements, having everything still to do and learn. There would then be no reason why Man should be more advanced today than he was during the first epochs of the world, because at each birth all intellectual work would have to recommence. On the other hand, by returning with the degree of progress realised and acquiring something more each time, the soul then gradually passes from the barbaric state to that of materialistic civilisation, and then on to one of moral civilisation. (See chapter 4, item 17.)

3. If God had exempted Man from bodily work his limbs would have withered. If He had exempted him from intellectual work then his Spirit would have remained in a state of infancy, or mere animal instinct. This is why He made work a necessity by saying: Seek and you will find; work and you will produce. In this way you are the product of your work; you receive the merit of it and recompense in accordance with what has been done.

4. It is by virtue of this principle that the Spirits do not help in sparing men the work of research by bringing them discoveries and inventions prepared and ready for use. Nor in such a way that they would have nothing to do but accept what was put into their hands, without any inconvenience whatsoever, nor even to bend down and pick it up, nor yet to think about it. If things were like that then the laziest could enrich themselves and the most ignorant could become wise at the cost of no effort, and both would have merits attributed to them for things they had not done. No, the Spirits do not come to exempt Man from the Law of Work, but only to show him the goal to be reached and the pathway that leads there, by saying: walk and you will get there. You will find your path strewn with stones; look upon them and then move them. We will give you the necessary strength if you care to utilise it. (See THE MEDIUMS' BOOK,' chapter 26, item 291 onwards.)

5. From the moral point of view, these words of Jesus signify that if we ask for the light, which will show us the way, it will be given. If we ask for strength to resist evil we shall receive it, and if we ask for the assistance of the good Spirits, then they will come to accompany us. Just as the angel of Tobias* [* See Book of Tobias, New Jerusalem Bible. (Translator's comment.)] came to help him, so they will guide us. If we ask for good counsel it will not be refused, and if we knock on His door it will be opened. But we must ask with sincerity, faith, confidence, and fervour. We must present ourselves with humility and not with arrogance, or else we will be abandoned to our own strength and the falls taken will be punishment for our pride.

This then is what is meant by the words: Seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened.


BEHOLD THE FOWLS OF THE AIR

6. "Do not accumulate treasures for yourselves on Earth, where worms and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But accumulate treasures for yourselves in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust can destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is why I tell you: Do not be anxious about where you will find something to eat so you can sustain your life, nor where you can get clothes to cover your body. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor store anything in barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. They do not work, neither do they spin, and still l say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, Oh, you of little faith!

So stop worrying, and saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the Pagans seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need these things.

But first seek the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you. Therefore give no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for the day is its evil. " (MATTHEW, 6: 19-21 & 25-34.)

7. In a literal translation these words would be a denial of all providence, of all work and consequently of all progress. With this kind of principle Man would be limited to waiting passively. His physical and intellectual strengths would remain inactive. If such were the normal conditions on Earth we would never have left the primitive state, and if this condition became the law today then it would only remain to live in total idleness. This could not have been the thought of Jesus, since this would be a contradiction of what He said on other occasions and also contradict the Laws of Nature. God created Man without clothes or shelter, but He gave him intelligence so as to be able to make them. (See chapter 14, item 6 & chapter 25, item 2.)

Consequently these words must not be seen as anything more than the poetical allegory of Providence, which never abandons those who put their confidence in it, but wishes that all work in their turn. If Providence does not always come in the form of material help, then it inspires those ideas from which is found the means of getting out of difficulty. (See chapter 27, item 8.)

God comprehends our necessities and provides for them when needed. Nevertheless, Man is insatiable in his desires and does not always know how to be content with what he has. Possessing what is necessary is not enough for him; he demands that which is superfluous. Then Providence leaves him to himself. Frequently he becomes unhappy through his own fault, and for having paid no attention to the voice that, through the intermediary of his conscience, has given him warning. In these cases the Lord lets him suffer the consequences so that it may serve as a lesson for the future. (See chapter 5, item 4.)

8. The Earth will produce sufficient to feed all its inhabitants when Man discovers how to administer the benefits that it offers according to the Laws of Justice, Charity and Love for one's neighbour. When fraternity reigns amongst all peoples, as it does amongst the provincials of any country, then the momentary superfluity of the one will overcome the insufficiency of another, and everyone will have what is necessary. Then the rich man will consider himself as one who possesses a great quantity of seeds. If he shares them with others they will produce a thousandfold for himself and for them. However, if he eats all the seeds himself, or wastes them and allows the surplus from what he ate to be lost, then nothing will be produced and he will take nothing out of this for others. If he hoards the seeds in his barn then the maggots will devour them. Hence Jesus had said: "Do not accumulate treasures on Earth because they are perishable, but accumulate them in Heaven where they are eternal." In other words, do not give material possessions more importance than the spiritual ones, and know how to sacrifice the first for the second. (See chapter 16, item 7 onwards.)

Charity and fraternity are not decreed under law. If one or the other is not in the heart then selfishness will rule. Consequently it is the task of Spiritism to see that they both penetrate the heart of Man.


PROVIDE NOT GOLD IN YOUR PURSE

9. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses. Do not take a bag for your journey, nor two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves, for the workman is worthy of his keep.

10. And in whatever city or town you go to, enquire as to who is worthy to put you up. Then stay there till you leave. And when you enter into a house, give your greeting. And if the house is worthy, let your peace be upon it; but if it is not then let your peace return to you. And whoever does not welcome you or listen to your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgement, than for that city. (MATTHEW, 10: 9-15.)

11. These words, which Jesus directed to His apostles when He sent them to announce the Glad Tidings for the first time, were nothing unusual in those days. They were in accordance with the patriarchal customs of the Orient, when the traveller was always made welcome in the tent. But then in those days travellers were very rare indeed. Among modern peoples the development of travel has created new customs. Very distant lands, where the great movement has not yet penetrated, are the only places to conserve those of ancient times. If Jesus were to return today He could no longer tell His apostles to put themselves on the road without provisions.

Apart from their actual meaning, these words hold a very profound moral sense. In proffering them, Jesus was teaching His disciples to have confidence in Providence. What is more, by having nothing, they could not cause covetousness amongst those who received them. This was the way of distinguishing those who were selfish from those who were charitable. This is why He told them to "Find out who is worthy to put you up." or rather who is human enough to clothe a traveller who has nothing with which to pay. These are the people who will be worthy to receive your words, and who will be recognisable by their charity.

With regard to those who cared neither to receive them nor to listen to them, did He tell His disciples that they should curse them, that they should impose the teachings upon them, or that they should use violence and force so as to convert them? No, He simply told them to go away and seek others who were willing to listen.

Today Spiritism says the same thing to its followers. Do not violate any consciences. Do not force anyone to leave his or her faith in order to adopt yours. Do not excommunicate those who do not think as you do. Welcome all who come to join you, and leave in peace all those who are repelled by your ideas. Remind yourselves of the words of Christ. In other times the heavens were taken over by violence, but today they are taken over by mildness. (See chapter 4, items 10 & 11.)

[NB I include the start of the next chapter, too - SBW]

CHAPTER 26

GIVE FOR FREE WHAT HAS BEEN RECEIVED GRATUITOUSLY

The gift of healing. - Paid prayers. - The moneychangers expelled from the Temple. - Gratuitous mediumship.

THE GIFT OF HEALING

1. "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely you have received, freely give." (MATTHEW, 10: 8.)

2. "Give for free what has been received gratuitously", is what Jesus told His disciples. With this recommendation it is prescribed that no one be charged for something for which nothing has been paid. Now what they had received gratuitously was the faculty of healing those who were sick, and that of expelling devils, that is to say bad Spirits. God gave them this faculty gratis for the alleviation of those who suffer and as a means of propagating faith. Jesus, then, recommended that they should not turn this into an object of commercialisation, neither speculation, nor a means of livelihood.

Day 98: Busy, Busy

Yesterday, my telecourse went very well and I did a lot of work today as a result. I plan to take a break over the weekend and enjoy the warmer weather in Sussex. Here is a copy of the photo I had done at the photo shoot, by the way. So-so.

Day 97: Harry Potter

For those keen to know more about the boy wizard, a link is provided here. Also, some news: JK Rowling is already writing two more books - one for children and one not. Both of these she was writing 'before HP took over'. This is according to Yahoo News the other day.

The link is one to an article about Potter with lots of links in it, so rather than endlessly type them in, am just providing her link. It's http://caffeinatedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-potter-links.html

Right, on to my Telecourse.

Day 96: Keep your Heart Healthy - and your Skin!

Hawthorn is a great herb to protect the heart and Calendula is great for the skin. As heart problems and skin problems are so common, perhaps this can help us all stay healthy.

Hawthorn – Crataegus oxyacantha
Family: Rosaceae
Parts used: Ripe berry and young (white or pink) blossom.
Actions and medical uses: Cardiovascular tonic, vasodilator, diuretic, astringent, hypotensive sedative.
Systems affected: Cardiovascular, digestive.
Specific indications: The best tonic for the heart and circulatory system. Hawthorn nourishes the heart, assisting it to return to normal activity by either gently stimulating or depressing its activity as needed. Can be used for palpitations of the heart. Used over a period of time, it treats cardiac weakness and/or failure, hypertension, arteriosclerosis and insomnia. Improves digestion.
Combinations: combines well with Yarrow, Lavender and Motherwort for treating high blood pressure; with Motherwort to specifically treat tachycardia (unduly rapid or arrhythmic heartbeat). Combines well with Ginkgo and Horsechestnut as a vascular tonic.
Preparations: Infusion*: 1 cup 3 times a day. Tincture*: 20 to 50 drops 3 times a day. Combined with other appropriate herbs useful as a syrup for treating sore throat.
Other uses: Makes excellent jams and syrups. Ornamental tree.

Calendula (Marigold) – Calendula officinalis
Family: Compositae
Parts used: Whole flower.
Actions and medical uses: Anti-inflammatory, astringent, vulnerary, sytptic, antiseptic, anti-fungal, cholagogue, emmenagogue.
Systems affected: Skin, digestive, reproductive.
Specific indications: An excellent first-aid remedy. Used safely and effectively for all skin inflammations, be they due to injury or infection. Unlike Arnica, Calendula can be put directly onto an open wound. It is recommended to use this soothing flower on burns, external bleeding, bruises, slow healing wounds or skin ulcers. These same actions of Calendula are equally safe and effective for use on the internal skins of the digestive system. Use it for indigestion, digestive inflammation and peptic or duodenal ulcers, where it gives soothing anti-inflammatory action along with healing vulnerary and astringent actions. As a chologogue, it gives relief in gall-bladder problems, aiding digestion. Calendula is reputed to be a normalizer of the female menstrual process. It helps balance the energy of male organs as well.
Combinations: Excellent anti-inflammatory and vulnerary combined with Arnica and St. Johnswort as a compound oil infusion or compound tincture, or with Garlic oil and Mullein flower oil for use as an ear oil. Combines well with Chamomile and Marshmallow for nervous stomach and digestive problems. Combines well with Witch Hazel as a lotion for hemorrhoids and varicose veins, also with Goldenseal and Myrrh as an antiseptic application.
Preparations: Infusion: 1 cup 3 times a day. Tincture: 25-50 drops 3 times a day. Prepare as an oil infusion, lotion or tincture for skin conditions.
Other uses: A gorgeous uplifting yellow-orange dried flower for visual aesthetics in a potpourri.

*How to Prepare
Infusions (tea)
Put one heaping teaspoonful (a teabagful) of cut, powdered or crushed herb leaves and/or flowers (the tender more delicate plant parts) into a preheated cup, pan or teapot (approximately two teaspoonsful if using a fresh undried herb); add boiling water, stir, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes; strain and drink. You have made a natural medicine called an herbal infusion, or call it herb tea. You need to use this infusion within 24 hours. It deteriorates rapidly. Standard dosage is 1 cupful 2 to 3 times a day.

Some mucilaginous herbs such as Marshmallow and Slippery Elm are best prepared as cold infusions. This process extracts the most mucilage from these herbs, and these constituents don’t coagulate in the cold water solvent (menstruum). To make a cold infusion, simply place the cut or powdered herb into a container of cold, distilled water, stir it well, let it steep 5 to 12 hours until the water is slimy, and strain. Adding a little maple syrup gives flavor.

*Tincture
Perhaps it’s easier to buy a ready-made tincture than prepare one. Let me know if you want the instructions to make it, however. NB: If you ever wish to eliminate most of the alcohol from each dose of a tincture, drop the dose to be taken into ¼ to ½ cup of boiling water and simmer 2 minutes, cool and drink. This will not impair the quality of the tincture.

The above is adapted from The Male Herbal by James Green, Herbalist.

Day 94: The Gospel According To Spiritism

The following extracts continue the theme running through many of the posts on this blog, namely that of the power of positive thinking, prayer and visualization to help get what you want in life.

The Gospel According To Spiritism by Allan Kardec details and explains a universal moral code of conduct, based upon the Teachings of Jesus. It is a book to be read by adepts from all religions and by those who profess no specific religion.

Day 93: continued further (part 3)

The last of the series today, all stuff I find very interesting. Why am I posting it? Because my purpose in writing this blog is not only to inform people about my book but also to share information to add massive value to people's lives. We are not just physical, and whilst most blogs focus on how to be richer, this one seeks to enrich you on all levels - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually...

Day 93: continued

Day 93: More explanation about spiritual phenomena e.g. sleepwalking

Day 90, 91 & 92: Too Busy to Blog!

You know you're busy when you can't even find the time to blog! Neither over the past two days nor today did I/do I really have time to blog, but must leave this until tomorrow. Work on my book is progressing but there never seem enough hours in the day. Still, it was good to spend time with my mum and be in the country for a while, even with the rain!

Day 87, 88 & 89: Harry Potter

On Friday night, I decided to join the queue outside a bookshop for the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I spoke to a woman next to me in the queue, who had read the first six several times and we were both approached by two girls with witches' hats on, who offered us cupcakes and jellybeans and gave us a Harry Potter-themed quiz.

A group of three women from Switzerland joined the back of the queue next to us and we all joined forces to fill in the quiz. One of the Swiss women was a twenty-year-old writer, so we exchanged email addresses.

It became exciting when the queue went so far down Oxford Street that I couldn't see the end of it and we became immune to the lads coming up to us and saying, "Harry Potter dies," or, "Ron dies."

Finally, midnight arrived and we were ushered inside slowly. After three hours waiting it was an immense relief, despite the good company. I said goodbye to my friends - the English one, recently married, half-way through her third book of the day and the Swiss girls heading back to Lausanne the following day after their holiday.

I had thought I would read it straight away, but - on impulse - decided to go to a Latino haunt where the dancing was fun and a contrast to the hours of sitting. After an hour there, I went and read the whole book, although I had a break when a friend rang me and we went around town for a few hours.

Now I'm in Sussex and had a lovely walk with my mother yesterday. Afterwards we met up with the man who was with my mum for five years, called 'Dave' in my book, and he and mum played duets by Mozart on the flute whilst I listened before we went to the pub, where I had a roast (for brunch) and they had drinks. 'David' and I talked about writing and the journey to get published. Today, 'Dave' is teaching my mum how to use the internet and I am posting this in the local library.

Day 86: Prayer

Prayer

658. Is prayer acceptable to God?
“Prayer is always acceptable to God when dictated by the heart, for the intention is everything in His sight; and the prayer of the heart is preferable to one read from a book, however beautiful it may be, if read with the lips rather than with the thought. Prayer is acceptable to God when it is offered with faith, fervour, and sincerity; but do not imagine that He will listen to that of the vain, proud, selfish man, unless it be offered as an act of sincere repentance and humility.”

659. What is the general character of prayer?
“Prayer is an act of adoration. To pray to God is to think of Him, to draw nearer to Him, to put one’s self in communication with Him. He who prays may propose to himself three things: to praise, to ask, and to thank.”

660. Does prayer make men better?
“Yes; for he who prays with fervour and confidence has more strength for withstanding the temptations of evil, and for obtaining from God the help of good spirits to assist him in so doing. Such help is never refused when asked for with sincerity.”
- How is it that persons who pray a great deal are sometimes very unamiable, jealous, envious, and harsh, wanting in benevolence and forbearance, and even extremely vicious?
“What is needed is not to pray a great deal, but to pray aright. Such persons suppose that all the virtue of prayer is in its length, and shut their eyes to their own defects. Prayer, for them, is an occupation, a means of passing their time, but not a study of themselves. In such cases, it is not the remedy that is inefficacious, but the mode in which it is employed.”

661. Is there any use in asking God to forgive us our faults?
“God discerns the good and the evil: prayer does not hide faults from his eyes. He who asks of God the forgiveness of his faults, obtains that forgiveness only through a change of conduct. Good deeds are the best prayers, for deeds are of more worth than words.”

662. Is there any use in praying for others?
The spirit of him who prays exercises an influence through his desire to do good. By prayer, he attracts to himself good spirits who take part with him in the good he desires to do.”

663. Can we, by praying for ourselves, avert our trials, or change their nature?
“Your trials are in the hands of God, and there are some of them that must be undergone to the very end; but God always takes account of the resignation with which they are borne. Prayer calls to your help good spirits who give you strength to bear them with courage, so that they seem to you less severe. Prayer is never useless when it is sincere, because it gives you strength, which is, of itself, an important result. ‘Heaven helps him who helps himself,’ is a true saying. God could change the order of nature at the various contradictory demands of His creatures; for what appears to be a great misfortune to you, from your narrow point of view, and in relation to your ephemeral life on the earth, is often a great blessing in relation to the general order of the universe; and besides, of how many of the troubles of his life is man himself the author, through his shortsightedness or through his wrong doing! He is punished in that wherein he has sinned. Nevertheless, your reasonable requests are granted more often than you suppose. You think your prayer has not been heeded, because God has not worked a miracle on your behalf; while, in fact, He has really assisted you, but by means so natural that they seem to you to have been the effect of chance or of the ordinary course of things. And, more often still, He suggests to your minds the thought of what you must do in order to help yourselves out of your difficulties.”

664. Is it useful to pray for the dead, and for suffering spirits, and, if so, in what way can our prayers soften or shorten their sufferings? Have they the power to turn aside the justice of God?
“Prayer can have no effect upon the designs of God; but the spirit for whom you pray is consoled by your prayer, because you give him a proof of your interest, and because he who is unhappy is always comforted by the kindness which compassionates his suffering. On the other hand, by your prayer, you excite him to repentance, and to the desire of doing all that lies in him to become happy; and it is this way that you may shorten the term of his suffering, provided that he, on his side, seconds your action by that of his own will. This desire for amelioration, excited by your prayer in the mind of the suffering spirit, attracts to him spirits of higher degree, who come to enlighten him, console him, and give him hope. Jesus prayed for the sheep that have gone astray; thereby showing you that you cannot, without guilt, neglect to do the same for those who have the greatest need of your prayers.”

665. What is to be thought of the opinion that rejects the idea of praying for the dead because it is not prescribed in the gospel?
“Christ has said, to all mankind, ‘Love one another.’ This injunction implies, for all men, the duty of employing every possible means of testifying their affection for each other; but without entering into any details in regard to the manner of attaining that end. If it be true that nothing can turn aside the Creator from applying, to every action of every spirit, the absolute justice of which He is the type, it is none the less true that the prayer you address to Him, on behalf of a suffering spirit for whom you feel affection or compassion, is accepted by Him as a testimony of remembrance that never fails to bring relief and consolation to the sufferer. As soon as the latter manifests the slightest sign of repentance, but only then, help is sent to him; but he is never allowed to remain in ignorance of the fact that a sympathising heart has exerted itself on his behalf, and is always left under the consoling impression that his friendly intercession has been of use to him. Thus your intervention necessarily induces a feeling of gratitude and affection, on his part, to the friend who has given him his proof of kindness and of pity; and the mutual affection enjoined upon all men by Christ will thereby have been developed or awakened between you and him. Both of you will thus have obeyed the law of love and union imposed on all the beings of the universe; that Divine law which will usher in the reign of unity that is the aim and end of a spirit’s education.”**

666. May we pray to spirits?
“You may pray to good spirits as being the messengers of God, and the executants of His will; but their power, which is always proportioned to their elevation, depends entirely on the Master of all things, without whose permission nothing takes place. For this reason, prayers addressed to them are only efficacious if accepted by God.”

**This reply was given by the spirit of M. Monod, the well-known and highly-esteemed Protestant pastor of Paris, deceased in 1856. The preceding reply (no. 664) was given by the spirit of St Louis.

The above extracts are, again, from The Spirits’ Book by Allan Kardec.

Right, tonight I am going to join the hordes of eager book-buyers in central London to buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then, most likely, I shall tomorrow go to Sussex and stay until Wednesday. Therefore, I may be away from my blog until then, although I shall try and post something if possible.

Day 85: Union of Soul and Body

More from The Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec. Fascinating...

Union of Soul and Body

344. At what moment is the soul united to the body?
“The union begins at the moment of conception, but is only complete at the moment of birth. From the moment of conception, the spirit designated to inhabit a given body is united to that body by a fluidic link, which becomes closer and closer up to the instant of birth; the cry then uttered by the infant announces that he is numbered among the living.”

345. Is the union between the spirit and the body definitive from the moment of conception? Could the spirit, during this first period of that union, renounce inhabiting the body designed for him?
“The union between them is definitive in this sense – namely, that no other spirit could replace the one who has been designated for that body. But, as the links which hold them together are at first very weak, they are easily broken, and may be severed by the will of a spirit who draws back from the trial he had chosen. But, in that case, the child does not live.”

346. What becomes of a spirit, if the body he has chosen happens to die before birth?
“He chooses another body.”
- What can be the use of premature deaths?
“Such deaths are most frequently caused by the imperfections of matter.”

347. What benefit can a spirit derive from his incarnation in a body which dies a few days after birth?
“In such a case, the new being’s consciousness of his existence is so slightly developed that his death is of little importance. As we have told you, such deaths are often intended mainly as a trial for the parents.”

348. Does the spirit know beforehand that the body he chooses has no chance of living?
“He sometimes knows it; but if he chooses it on this account, it is because he shrinks from the trial he foresees.”

349. When, from any cause, a spirit has failed to accomplish a proposed incarnation, is another existence provided for him immediately?
“Not always immediately. The spirit requires time to make a new choice, unless his instantaneous reincarnation had been previously decided upon.”

350. When a spirit is definitely united to an infant body, and it is thus too late for him to refuse this union, does he sometimes regret the choice he has made?
“If you mean to ask whether, as a man, he may complain of the life he has to undergo, and whether he may not wish it were otherwise, I answer, Yes; but if you mean to ask whether he regrets the choice he has made, I answer, No, for he does not remember that he has made it. A spirit, when once incarnated, cannot regret a choice which he is not conscious of having made; but he may find the burden he has assumed too heavy, and, if he believes it to be beyond his strength, he may have recourse to suicide.”

351. Does a spirit, in the interval between conception and birth, enjoy the use of all his faculties?
“He does so more or less according to the various periods of gestation; for he is not yet incarnated in his new body, but only attached to it. From the instant of conception confusion begins to take possession of the spirit, who is thus made aware that the moment has come for him to enter upon a new existence; and this confusion becomes more and more dense until the period of birth. In the interval between these two terms, his state is nearly that of an incarnated spirit during the sleep of the body. In proportions as the moment of birth approaches, his ideas become effaced, together with his remembrance of the past, of which, when once he has entered on corporeal life, he is no longer conscious. But this remembrance comes back to him little by little when he has returned to the spirit-world.”

352. Does the spirit, at the moment of birth, recover the plenitude of his faculties?
“No; they are gradually developed with the growth of his organs. The corporeal life is for him a new existence; he has to learn the use of his bodily instruments. His ideas come back to him little by little, as in the case of a man who, waking out of slumber, should find himself in a different situation from that in which he was before he fell asleep.”

353. The union of the spirit and the body not being completely and definitively consummated until birth has taken place, can the foetus be considered as having a soul?
“The spirit who is to animate it exists, as it were, outside of it; strictly speaking, therefore, it has no soul, since the incarnation of the latter is only in course of being effected; but it is linked to the soul which it is to have.”

354. What is the nature of intra-uterine life?
“That of the plant which vegetates. The foetus, however, lives with vegetable and animal life, to which the union of a soul with the child-body at birth adds spiritual life.”

355. Are there, as is indicated by science, children so constituted that they cannot live, and if so, for what purpose are they produced?
“That often happens. Such births are permitted as a trial, either for the parents or for the spirit appointed to animate it.”

356. Are there, among still-born children, some who were never intended for the incarnation of a spirit?
“Yes, there are some who never had a spirit assigned to them, for whom nothing was to be done. In such a case, it is simply as a trial for the parents that the child arrives.”
- Can a being of this nature come to its term?
“Yes, sometimes; but it does not live.”
- Every child that survives its birth has, then, necessarily a spirit incarnated in it?
What would it be if such were not the case? It would not be a human being.”

357. What are, for a spirit, the consequences of abortion?
“It is an existence that is null, and must be commenced over again.”

358. Is artificial abortion a crime, no matter at what period of gestation it may be produced?
“Every transgression of the law of God is a crime. The mother, or any other, who take the life of an unborn child, is necessarily criminal; for, by so doing, a soul is prevented from undergoing the trial of which the body thus destroyed was to have been the instrument.”

359. In cases in which 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 whose existence is not yet complete than the being whose existence is complete.”

360. Is it rational to treat the foetus with the same respect as the body of a child that has lived?
“In the one, as in the other, you should recognise the will and handiwork of God, and these are always to be respected.”

Day 84: Animals and Men

Animals and Men more extracts from The Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec

592. If we compare man with the animals in reference to intelligence, it seems difficult to draw a line of demarcation between them; for some animals are, in this respect, notoriously superior to some men. Is it possible to establish such a line of demarcation with any precision?
“Your philosophers are far from being agreed upon this point. Some of them will have it that man is an animal; others are equally sure that the animal is a man. They are all wrong. Man is a being apart, who sometimes sinks himself very low, or who may raise himself very high. As regards his physical nature, man is like the animals, and less well provided for than many of them; for nature has given to them all that man is obliged to invent with the aid of his intelligence for his needs and his preservation. His body is subject to destruction, like that of the animals; but his spirit has a destiny that he alone can understand, because he alone is completely free. Poor human beings who debase yourselves below the brutes! Do you not know how to distinguish yourselves from them? Recognise the superiority of man by his possessing the notion of the existence of God.”

593. Can the animals be said to act only from instinct?
“That, again, is a mere theory. It is very true that instinct predominates in the greater number of animals; but do you not see some of them act with a determinate will? This is intelligence; but of narrow range.”
…
594. Have animals a language?
“If you mean a language formed of words and syllables, no; but if you mean a method of communication among themselves, yes. They say much more to one another than you suppose; but their language is limited, like their ideas, to their bodily wants.”
- There are animals who have no voice; have they no language?
“They understand one another by other means. Have men no other method of communicating with one another than by speech? And the dumb, what do you say of them? The animals, being endowed with the life of relation, have means of giving one another information, and of expressing the sensations they feel. Do you suppose that fishes have no understanding among themselves? Man has not the exclusive privilege of language; but that of the animals is instinctive and limited to the scope of their wants and ideas, while that of man is perfectible, and lends itself to all the conceptions of his intelligence.”

595. Have animals free-will in regard to their actions?
“They are not the mere machines you suppose them to be; but their freedom of action is limited to their wants, and cannot be compared to that of man. Being far inferior to him, they have not the same duties. Their freedom is restricted to the acts of their material life.”

596. Whence comes the aptitude of certain animals to imitate human speech, and why is this aptitude found among birds, rather, for instance, than among apes, whose conformation has so much more analogy to that of man?
“That aptitude results from a particular conformation of the vocal organs, seconded by the instinct of imitation. The ape imitates man’s gestures; birds imitate his voice.”

597. Since the animals have an intelligence which gives them a certain degree of freedom of action, is there, in them, a principle independent of matter?
“Yes; and that survives their body.”
- Is this principle a soul, like that of man?
“It is a soul, if you like to call it so; that depends on the meaning you attach to this word. But it is inferior to that of man. There is, between the soul of the animals and that of man, as great a difference as there is between the soul of man and God.”

598. Does the soul of the animals preserve, after death, its individuality and its self-consciousness?
“It preserves its individuality, but not the consciousness of its me. The life of intelligence remains latent in them.”

599. Does the soul of the beasts the choice of incarnating itself in one kind of animal rather than in another?
“No; it does not possess free-will.”

600. As the soul of the animal survives its body, is it, after death, in a state of erraticity, like that of man?
“It is in a sort of erraticity, because it is not united to a body; but it is not an errant spirit. The errant spirit is a being who thinks and acts of his own free-will; but the soul of the animal has not the same faculty, for it is his self-consciousness which is the principal attribute of the spirit. The soul of the animal is classed after its death, by the spirits charged with that work, and almost immediately utilised; it has not the leisure to enter into connection with other creatures.”

601. Do animals follow a law progress like men?
“Yes; and it is for this reason that, in the higher worlds in which men are further advanced, the animals are more advanced also, and possess more developed means of communication. But they are always inferior to man; and subject to him; they are, for him, intelligent servitors.”
…
602. Do animals progress, like man, through the action of their will, or through the force of things?
“Through the force of things; this is why there is, for them, no expiation.”

603. Have the animals, in the higher worlds, a knowledge of God?
“No; man is a god for them, as spirits were formerly gods for men.”

604. The animals, even the advanced ones of the higher worlds, being always inferior to man, it would seem as though God had created intellectual beings condemned to a perpetual inferiority; such an arrangement does not appear to be in accordance with the unity of design and of progress discernible in all His works.
“Everything in nature is linked together by an enchaining which your intellect cannot yet seize; and things apparently the most discrepant have points of contact at the comprehension of which man will never arrive in his actual state. He may obtain a glimmering of them through an effort of his intelligence; but it is only when that intelligence shall have acquired its full development, and shall have freed itself from the prejudices of pride and of ignorance, that he will be able to see clearly into the work of God; until then, his narrowness of thought causes him to look at everything ffrom a low and petty point of view. Know that God cannot contradict Himself, and that everything in nature is harmonised by the action of general laws that never deviate from the sublime wisdom of the Creator.”
- Intelligence, then, is a common property, and a point of contact, between the soul of the beast and that of man?
“Yes, but the animals have only the intelligence of material life; in man, intelligence gives moral life.”

605. If we consider all the points of contact that exist between man and the animals, does it not seem as though man possessed two souls – viz., an animal soul and a spiritual soul, and that, if he had not the latter, he might still live, but as a brute; in other words, that the animal is a being similar to man, minus the spiritual soul? From which it would follow that the good and bad instincts of man result from the predominance of one or the other of these two souls.
“No, man has not two souls; but the body has its instincts resulting from the sensation of its organs. There is in him only a double nature – the animal nature and the spiritual nature. By his body he participates in the nature of the animals and their instincts; by his soul he participates in the nature of spirits.”
- Thus, besides his own imperfection, which he has to get rid of, a spirit has also to struggle against the influence of matter?
“Yes, the lower a spirit’s degree of advancement, the closer are the bonds which united him with matter. Do you not see that it must necessarily be so? No; man has not two souls: the soul is always one in a single being. The soul of the animal and that of man are distinct from one another, so that the soul of the one cannot animate the body created for the other. But if man have not an animal soul, placing him, by its passions, on a level with the animals, he has his body, which often drags him down to them; for his body is a being endowed with vitality, and that has its instincts, but unintelligent, and limited to the care of its own preservation.”
…
606. Whence do the animals derive the intelligent principle that constitutes the particular kind of soul with which they are endowed?
“From the universal intelligent element.”
- The intelligence of man and of the animals emanates, then, from one and the same principle?
“Undoubtedly; but, in man, it has received an elaboration which raises it above that which animates the brute.”

607. You have stated that the soul of man, at its origin, is in a state analogous to that of human infancy, that its intelligence is only beginning to unfold itself, and that it is essaying to live (190); where does the soul accomplish this earliest phase of its career?
“In a series of existences which precede the period of development that you call humanity.”
The soul would seem, then, to have been the intelligent principle of the inferior orders of creation?
“Have we not said everything in nature is linked together and tends to unity? It is in those beings, of which you are very far from knowing all, that the intelligent principle is elaborated, is gradually individualised, and made ready to live, as we have said, through its subjection to a sort of preparatory process, like that of germination, on the conclusion of which that principle undergoes a transformation and becomes spirit. It is then that the period of humanity commences for each spirit with the sense of futurity, the power of distinguishing between good and evil, and the responsibility of his actions; just as, after the period of infancy comes that of childhood, then youth, adolescence, and ripened manhood. Is the greatest genius humiliated by having been a shapeless foetus in his mother’s womb? If anything ought to humiliate him, it is his lowness in the scale of being, and his powerlessness to sound the depths of the divine designs and the wisdom of the laws that regulate the harmonies of the universe. Recognise the greatness of God in this admirable harmony that establishes solidarity between everything in nature. To think that God could have made anything without a purpose, and have created intelligent beings without a future, would be to blaspheme His goodness, which extends over all His creatures.
Does this period of humanity commence upon our earth?
“The earth is not the starting-point of the earliest phase of human incarnation; the human period commences, in general, in worlds still lower than yours. This, however, is not an absolute rule; and it may happen that a spirit, at his entrance upon the human phase, may be fitted to live upon the earth. Such a case, however, though possible, is infrequent; and would be an exception to the general rule.”

608. Has a man’s spirit, after death, any consciousness of the existences that have preceded his entrance upon the human period?
“No; for it is only with this period that his life, as a spirit, has begun for him. He can scarcely recall his earliest existences as a man; just as a man no longer remembers the earliest days of his infancy, and still less the time he passed in his mother’s womb. This is why spirits tell you that they do not know how they began.”

609. Does a spirit, when once he has entered upon the human period, retain any traces of what he has previously been, that is to say, of the state in which he was in what may be called the ante-human period?
“That depends on the distance that separates the two periods, and the amount of progress accomplished. During a few generations, there may be a reflex, more or less distinct, of the primitive state, for nothing in nature takes place through an abrupt transition, and there are always links which unite the extremities of the chain of beings or of events; but those traces disappear with the development of free-will. The first steps of progress are accomplished slowly, because they are not yet seconded by the will; they are accomplished more rapidly in proportion as the spirit acquires a more perfect consciousness of himself.”

610. The spirits who have said that man is a being apart from the rest of creation are, then, mistaken?
“No, but the question had not been developed; and besides, there are things that can only be known at their appointed time. Man is, in reality, a being apart, for he has faculties that distinguish him from all others, and he has another destiny. The human species is the one which God has chosen for the incarnation of the beings that are capable of knowing Him.”