Leonardo Marmo Moreira

Sleep and its  implications in terms of physical and spiritual health  (Part 2 - Final)

Even if we consider the more "pervasive" processes of emancipation of the soul, i.e., the more general ones and associated with sleep, it is possible to perceive that the moments in which the soul "moves away" from the physical brain are decisive for the reception and better setting of the so-called "intuition or spiritual inspiration". The "Phalange of the Spirit of Truth" (PST) emphasizes this in The Book of Spirits (LE) in questions 410 and 410-a. Let us first look at question 410:
 

"410. Sometimes, while we sleep or take a nap, ideas that seem very good, and despite the efforts that are made to remember them, they are erased from our memory. Where do these ideas come from?

A. They are the result of the freedom of the Spirit that becomes free and enjoys, at that moment, his broader faculties. Often, they can also be advice given by other Spirits".

The Spirits make it clear that "good" ideas are, in this context "... the result of the freedom of the Spirit, which is emancipated and enjoys, at that moment, of broader faculties”. Therefore, the Spirits emphasize that the intellectual capacity of the immortal Spirit manifests itself with more ease, originality and/or speed than when in physical wakefulness, where the physical brain exercises a certain "obstruction" to the manifestation of all the spiritual baggage of the soul in question. The Spirits also comment that such "inspirations" are usually suggestions of disincarnated Entities ("Often, too, they are advice given by other Spirits").  

Note that “The Phalange of the Spirit of Truth" (PST) uses the term "frequently" but it does not say "In all cases" or "In most cases". Therefore, in a good number of cases, there is inspiration from the disincarnated Spirits, but in a significant number of occurrences there is no such influence of the disincarnated, and this means that it is the incarnate itself, partially unfolded, who in the great majority of cases, acquires greater intellectual acuity enabling him to have excellent ideas. Therefore, in the first situation, we have the intuition of the disincarnated Spirits, and in the second case we see a fundamentally animistic phenomenon, i.e., an intrinsic "reasoning" or "flash" of the incarnate Spirit itself (it would be a kind of insight, using a word normally employed in English, and that is born, at first, from the incarnate itself outside the body).

Let us see, in sequence, question 410, item a:
 

“410-a. What good are these ideas or advice, if their memory is lost and cannot be used?

A. These ideas sometimes belong to the world of the Spirits rather than to the corporeal world, but what usually happens is that the body forgets them, the Spirit remembers them, and the idea returns in the necessary moment, as an inspiration of the moment". 

Therefore, “The Phalange of the Spirit of Truth" (PST) is quite clear when it states that, even when we forget the ideas we learnt with the mentors, they remain in a kind of “latent state” in our memory, and can be “activated” by a small “association of ideas” or with some moments of reflection or even, through the study of works of authors that approach the mentioned issue, even if lightly, favoring the awakening of the respective study.

The implications of spiritual experiences from the partial unfolding through physical sleep - Allan Kardec, Andre Luiz and Manoel Philomeno de Miranda emphasize the relevance of these periods of the emancipation of the soul through sleep for the achievements of the individual in his physical wakefulness, both in terms of the common tasks of the material life, as well as of the inspiration for works of a greater impact in terms of contributing to the spiritual matters themselves.

In "Missionaries of the Light", there is a narrative regarding groups of spiritual workers, who unfolded by physical sleep, attended a lecture by the spiritual mentor Alexandre in the Spiritist center to which they were linked [Luis, 2003]. The narrative, recorded in Chapter Nine, called "Mediumship and Phenomenon", was focused on the theme "mediumistic development", presenting multifaceted aspects, and was directed predominantly to the unfolded incarnated brothers. This demonstrates that even with the possible forgetfulness of the experiences in the partial unfolding by physical sleep, for a significant number of individuals, the mentors consider such initiatives productive, and this agrees with Kardecism.

In this same work [Luiz, 2003], in Chapter Seven, entitled "Spiritual Relief", a mediation is told through the laying on of hands by disincarnated with the assistance of an unfolded incarnate, named Afonso, and who was at the moment working on the laying on of hands. In this episode, the application of "a sort of atypical human-spiritual pass" is provided, since the man in attendance, named Antonio, did not know that he was receiving the spiritual pass and that the incarnate passer-by was unfolded. In any case, the text of Andre Luiz makes it clear that the Disincarnate Friends needed the contribution of an unfolded incarnated working on the laying on of hands. However, it was not possible to use any incarnate, but it was necessary to work with one with a spiritual preparation and experience, since according to Andre Luiz, the body of Antonio was in an "already dying" state. The incarnated Afonso was summoned in terms of the moral elevation that characterized him, and the vital fluids he provided were of the highest quality.

Afonso looked like a "veteran in similar assistance services", in the opinion of Andre Luiz, and worked under the guidance of Alexander and in partnership with the group of Brother Francisco to "save the physical life" of a companion who was effectively in a situation of great risk of death. Antonio was saved and gained a few months to complete tasks of his physical life. Such a narrative shows the fluidic impacts we have through DPSF regarding our physical health (as the example of Antonio illustrates) as well as the volume of spiritual activities of great relevance that we can develop, if we are in the moral conditions to do so (as Afonso's work exemplifies ) [Luiz, 2003].

We are Spirits and we temporarily use a physical body. Yet even during the incarnation we are not totally bound to the physical body. There are situations when we get a kind of "parole". Such situations allow the Spirit to enjoy a little more freedom in relation to his physical body. The most common case of this kind of "parole" occurs through physical sleep.

From the physical point of view, we really need approximately eight (8) hours of sleep per day; but from the spiritual point of view, there is never any interruption of our mental-spiritual activities. In this way, "consciousness" never ceases to act. In fact, during the hours of physical sleep we can acquire (the Spirit itself, i.e., the intelligent principle of the Universe, the true individuality, also called the higher self or mind, which is accompanied by the perispirit or spiritual body) partial freedom from the physical body.

This does not mean that if I usually sleep eight (8) hours a day, I will be unfolded eight (hours) a day. In a good period of time, the Spirit may be "in coincidence" with the physical body, i.e., overlapped on the body, but in any case a good part of that time interval devoted to physical sleep may be, and often is, associated with an effective unfolding of the Spirit.

Sleep as a factor of spiritual disturbance and disruption to physical health - LE question 412 [Kardec, 1972] is strongly significant in terms of the interconnection between DPSF and physical health. Let's see:

"412. Can the Spirit’s activity, while the body is resting or sleeping, tire it?

A. Yes, because the Spirit is connected to the body, like the captive balloon to the pole. Now, just as the flutter of the balloon shakes the pole, the activity of the Spirit reacts upon the body, and can cause fatigue”.

The aforementioned wear and tear of the physical body is understandable, in the light of the Spiritist Doctrine, because the spiritual experience in the DPSF generates significant psychological wear and tear, due to negative spiritual experiences and also to losses regarding the vital fluid, due to a weakening similar to the one caused by the action of "vampires" and to which the incarnates are often subject. Indeed, the soul - when it remains for a significant time in an environment/or in activities of a low vibratory pattern, usually in the company of spiritually backward entities - loses vital fluid and ends deep-rooted with negative fluids that affect the perispiritual balance, and this tends to negatively affect the physiological conditions of the coarsest somatic organism.

Therefore, the partial unfolding by physical sleep, with rare and special exceptions, has been very badly utilized by mankind. The so-called "moral vigilance" is often relaxed during the hours of sleep, and thus many negative tendencies we control while awake, we do not stop them during physical sleep. This explains, at least partially, the occurrence of many coarse sleeping in which we may be surprised with our attitudes, doing things we would never do during the day. This can be minimized by a more serious study of Spiritism and through a more sincere effort in putting into practice these principles that free us.

In fact, instead of taking advantage of these hours when we have a more effective contact with the spiritual world to generate inspiration and spiritual enlightenment for ourselves, we tend to waste all that time and, what is worse, we often still emphasize material addictions, obsessive processes, and negative commitments of all kinds.

A third of our physical life is a long period of time that can cause positive intuitions for solving countless existential problems that challenge us during the day (while we are awake). On the other hand, considering the average spiritual level of our Humanity we can spend our time elaborating problems for ourselves and for others, affecting our own skill to accomplish our daily tasks.

Strategies for a better use of our sleeping hours – Therefore, the habit of saying a prayer before one goes to bed is very positive and healthy from a spiritual point of view, with influence on the perispirit and body. However, prayer alone is not enough. Many think that a simple "Our Father" or a "Prayer of Francis of Assisi" or any other prayer, known by heart or not, provides a total or almost total spiritual immunity for any kind of possible spiritual disturbance that we may encounter during the hours of physical sleep.

This is not true. In fact, the thoughts, feelings, fixations, words, and deeds that we practice throughout the day are the preparation for the night and for the habits we develop during the partial unfolding generated during physical sleep. Similarly, everything we do in Spirit during its partial unfolding influences our mental state, our tranquility, our ability to concentrate, and our attachment to matter, our memories, including the negative and/or the positive ones, among other intimate states, during the following day.

This is because the activities of the immortal Spirit never stop and, not stopping, we are constantly building our vibrational state and our spiritual affinities with no interruption in all situations of our life. A thought-lifting effort of approximately five (5) minutes, for example, would help, but it would probably not completely reverse a whole day of negative, aggressive, vengeful, resentful, and of depressing thoughts that we had.

Thus, we can generate vicious circles or virtuous circles during these cycles of vigilance-partial unfolding - vigilance, depending on our ethical-moral directives and our efforts to undertake our spiritual evolution.

The works of Andre Luiz, through the mediumship of Chico Xavier (we would mention, for example, the extraordinary work "Missionaries of the Light", third work of the series "Life in the Spiritual World", also called "Our Home" series, or "Andre Luiz" series), and works from the mediumship of Dona Yvonne do Amaral Pereira (such as "Memories of a Suicide", "Disclosing the Invisible" and "Memories of the Mediumship"), among others, show a large number of cases in which the need to educate our sleep is one of the fundamental prerequisites for a more sustainable and more substantial spiritual evolution. The study of this reality and the attempt of effective application of this information in our intimate improvement are fundamental in order to generate a qualitative leap that would allow us to acquire, in fact, a level of spirituality throughout our physical life, twenty-four (24) hours per day.

We believe that such a reality could and should be more emphasized in routine studies in our Spiritist institutions, since such problematic is a determining factor for the intellectual-moral improvement of all individuals.

References:

A. Kardec, The Book of Spirits, translation by Jose Herculano Pires, Allan Kardec Publishing House, São Paulo, Sao Paulo; 62^nd edition, 2001.

A. Kardec, The Book of Mediums, translated by Jose Herculano Pires, Allan Kardec Publishing House, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo; 1^st edition, 1973.

A. Luiz [psychographed by Francisco C. Xavier], Missionaries of the Light, Brazilian Spiritist Federation, Brasilia, Federal District; 1 special edition, 2003.

M.P. Miranda – psychographed by Divaldo P. Franco - Torments of Obsession, Livraria and Editora Alvorada, Salvador, Bahia.