Questions
A. Does the perispirit play a role in the human body?
B. Why do some meetings bring us great satisfaction, while others cause us discomfort?
C. How can we avoid the influence of evil spirits?
Text for reading
906. The account given by the blind cured by Jesus, so simple and naïve, bears within it an obvious character of truth. There is nothing fantastic or extraordinary about it. It is a scene from real life taken from a fact. The language of the blind man is precisely that of simple folk in whom knowledge is supplanted by common sense, and who respond to the arguments of their adversaries with straightforwardness, and for reasons that lack neither justice nor appropriateness.
907. Is not the tone of the Pharisees that of the proud, who believe in nothing above their own intelligence, and who become indignant at the sole idea that a man of the people could show them a thing or two?
908. Except for the local character of the situation, the same could apply to our times as well. Being thrown out of the synagogue was like being put out of the Church. It was a kind of excommunication. Spiritists, whose doctrine is that of Christ interpreted according to the progress of today’s knowledge, are treated like the Jews who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. In being excommunicated, they are set outside the Church; it is just like what the scribes and Pharisees did to the followers of Christ.
909. Is that not what is done in regards to Spiritists? Whatever they obtain, whether wise counsels from spirits, a return to God and to goodness, or healings – all this is the work of the Devil and an anathema is published against them.
910. Have we not seen priests declare from atop the pulpit that it would be better to remain a disbeliever than to return to faith through Spiritism? Has it not been said to the infirm that they must not be healed by spirits who possess this gift because it is Satanic? Or others who preach that the needy should not accept the bread distributed by Spiritists because it is the bread of the Devil? Besides, what else did the Jewish priests and Pharisees say and do? What is more, it has been stated that everything today must happen as it did in the time of Christ.
911. The disciples’ question: Was it the sin of this man that caused him to be blind from birth? indicates an intuition about a previous existence; otherwise, it would not make sense, because a sin that would cause an infirmity from birth would have had to have been committed before birth, and therefore in a previous existence. If Jesus had seen it as being a wrong idea, he would have said, “How could this man have sinned before being born?” Instead, he said that the man was blind, not because he had sinned, but so that God’s power could shine on him; that is, that he would be the instrument for a manifestation of God’s power. If his blindness was not an expiation of the past, it was a trial that would serve for his advancement, because God, who is just, would not have imposed suffering without compensation.
912. As for the means employed to heal him, it is obvious that the kind of clay made from saliva and dirt could not have had any power except through the action of the healing fluid with which it was imbued. Thus it is that the most insignificant substances, — water, for example — may acquire powerful and effective qualities under the action of the spiritual or magnetic fluid, for which they serve as a vehicle, or if you prefer, a reservoir.
913. Several healings performed by Jesus - Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and healing all weaknesses and infirmities among the people. And since his reputation was spreading throughout Syria, all those who were infirm and diversely afflicted with pains and ills, the possessed, the insane and paralytics, were presented to him and he healed them. And a large crowd of people followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and from beyond the Jordan. (Mt. 4:23-25)
914. Of all the events that bear witness to Jesus’ power, the most numerous are undoubtedly the healings. Through them he wanted to show that true power is that which does good and that his objective was to make himself useful — not to satisfy the curiosity of the indifferent with extraordinary things. By alleviating suffering, he connected with people through their heart and made more numerous and more sincere proselytes than if they had been impressed only by visual spectacles. In this way he made himself loved, whereas if he had limited himself to producing impressive physical effects, as the Pharisees asked of him, most people would have seen him only as a sorcerer or a skillful magician, whom the idle would have gone to see in order to be entertained.
915. Thus, when John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask him if he was the Christ, he did not say, “Yes, I am,” because any imposter could have said that. He did not speak of wonders or extraordinary things, but answered them simply, “Go tell John that the blind see, the infirm are healed, the deaf hear and the Gospel is being proclaimed to the poor.” This was telling them, “Recognize me by my works; judge the tree by its fruit,” because that was the true character of his divine mission.
916. It is also by means of the good it does that Spiritism proves its providential mission. It heals physical ills, but heals moral infirmities especially, and therein lie the greatest wonders through which it affirms itself. Its most sincere adherents are not those who have been impressed by the sight of extraordinary phenomena, but those who have been touched in their souls by its consolation; those who have been freed from the torments of doubt; those whose courage has been revealed in affliction, who have gained strength in the certainty of the future that it has brought them, the knowledge of their spiritual being and their destiny. These are the ones whose faith is unshakable, because they feel and comprehend.
917. Those who see in Spiritism only physical effects cannot comprehend its moral power, neither can disbelievers who know Spiritism only by the phenomena whose primary cause they do not accept, and who see in Spiritists nothing more than sleight-of-hand artists and charlatans. Hence, it will not be through wonders that Spiritism will triumph over disbelief; instead, it will be through the increase of its moral benefits, because even if disbelievers do not believe in the wonders, they, like everyone else, do know suffering and affliction, and no one turns down relief and consolation.
918. Possessions - Next they came to Capernaum; and on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach them. They marveled at his doctrine because he was teaching them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Now, in the synagogue there was a man possessed by a lower spirit, who was exclaiming, “What is there between you and us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus, however, said to him threateningly, “Be quiet and come out of that man.” Then, the lower spirit threw the man into violent convulsions, let out a loud scream and came out of him. Everyone was so surprised by this that they asked one another, “What is this? What is this new doctrine? He orders with authority; even lower spirits obey him.” (Mk. 1:21-27)
919. After they had left, they presented him with a mute man possessed by a demon. The demon having been cast out, the mute man spoke and the people were filled with wonder, saying, “We have never seen such a thing in Israel.” But the Pharisees were saying otherwise: “It is by the prince of demons that he casts out demons.” (Mt. 9:32-34)
920. When Jesus came to where his other disciples were, he saw a large crowd of people around them and several scribes were arguing with them. Upon seeing Jesus, all the people were immediately taken by surprise and fear; they ran to greet him. Then he asked, “What are you arguing about?” And a man in the midst of the people said, “Master, I have brought you my son who is possessed with a mute spirit, and whenever it seizes him it throws him to the ground, and the boy foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out but they could not.” Jesus answered them, “O disbelieving people, how long will I be with you? How long must I endure you? Bring him to me.”
921. They brought him and as soon as he saw Jesus, the spirit began to shake him violently. He fell to the ground, where he rolled around foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening?” “Since infancy,” said the father, “and the spirit sometimes casts him into the fire and sometimes into the water in order to kill him. If you can do something, have compassion and help us.” Jesus responded, “If you can believe, all things are possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed to him in tears, “Lord, I believe; help me in my disbelief.”
922. And seeing that a crowd was coming nearer, Jesus spoke threateningly to the unclean spirit, saying, “You deaf and mute spirit, I order you to come out of the boy and not to enter him again.” Then the spirit, having let out a loud cry and having shaken him with violent convulsions, came out, and the boy remained as if dead, and many said that he was dead. But after Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, he stood up.
923. While Jesus was going home, his disciples asked him in private, “Why could we not cast the demon out?” He answered, “That kind of demon can be cast out only through prayer and fasting.” (Mk. 9:13-28)
924. Then, they presented him with a possessed man who was also blind and mute, and he healed him so that he began to talk and see. All the people were filled with wonder at this and asked, “Is this not the son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” Now Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. Therefore, how will his kingdom stand? And if it is by Beelzebub that I cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Thus, they themselves shall be your judges. But If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God has thus come to you.” (Mt. 12:22-28)
925. Along with the healings, the liberating of the possessed figure among the most numerous acts of Jesus. Among the events of this nature, there are those, like the one narrated above, where possession is not patent. It is probable that at that time, as is still the case nowadays, the influence of demons was attributed to all infirmities whose cause was unknown, especially muteness, epilepsy and catalepsy. There are others, however, in which the action of evil spirits cannot be doubted; they have such a striking similarity to those that we witness that we recognize in them all the symptoms of that type of ailment.
926. The proof of the participation of a hidden intelligence in such a case stands out from a material fact: many radical healings have been obtained in some Spiritist centers solely by means of evoking and moralizing obsessor spirits, without magnetization or medication, and frequently with the patient absent and far away.
927. Christ’s immense ascendancy gave him such authority over imperfect spirits — at the time called demons — that all he had to do was order them to come out in such a way that they could not resist his command.
Answer Key
A. Does the perispirit play a role in the human body?
Yes. Due to its intimate union with the body, the perispirit plays leading role in the human body. (Genesis, Chap. XIV, item 18. See also item 29)
B. Why do some meetings bring us great satisfaction, while others cause us discomfort?
A gathering is a focal point where different thoughts radiate. It is like an orchestra, a choir of thoughts, where each one produces a note. The result is a multitude of fluidic currents and emanations, from which each participant receives an impression through the spiritual sense just as in a musical choir each singer receives the impression of sounds through the hearing sense. However, just as there are harmonious and discordant sounds, there are also harmonious and discordant thoughts. If the group is harmonious, the impression is pleasant; if it is discordant, the impression is uncomfortable. Moreover, there is no need for thought to be formulated using words; the fluidic radiation exists nonetheless, whether expressed or not.
Such is the cause for the feeling of satisfaction that is experienced in a sympathetic meeting animated by good and benevolent thoughts. There, a healthy moral atmosphere reigns where one may breathe easily; there, one feels comforted because he or she is permeated with healthy fluidic emanations. But if there is a mixture of a few bad thoughts, they produce the effect of a current of icy air in a warm environment or a wrong note in a concerto. This also explains the anxiousness, the indefinable ill-at-ease feeling that may occur in an antipathetic environment, where malevolent thoughts provoke currents of nauseating fluid. (Genesis, Chap. XIV, item 19)
C. How can we avoid the influence of evil spirits?
The way to do so is quite simple, because it depends on the will of persons themselves, who bear within them the necessary protection. Fluids are combined due to the similarity of their natures; dissimilar fluids repel one another. There is incompatibility between good and bad fluids, just as there is between water and oil.
What do we do when the air is contaminated? We cleanse it and purify it by destroying the concentration of the miasmas, by expelling the malevolent emanations with stronger currents of healthy air. The invasion of deleterious fluids must therefore be opposed with good fluids, and since we all have in our own perispirit a permanent fluidic source, we have the remedy within us. It takes nothing more than purifying this source and giving it such qualities that it may become a repellant of bad influences instead of being an attracting force. The perispirit is therefore armor that must be given the best possible caliber. Thus, because the qualities of the perispirit result from the qualities of the soul, it is necessary to work on improving it, because it is the soul’s imperfections that attract evil spirits. Flies go where concentrations of decay attract them; destroy the concentrations and the flies will disappear. Similarly, evil spirits go where evil attracts them; eliminate the evil and they will stay away. Truly good spirits, whether incarnate or discarnate, have nothing to fear from the influence of evil ones. (Genesis, Chap. XIV, item 21)
