Questions
A. May thoughts be reflected in perispiritual envelope as if its was photographed?
B. Is that from this fact that it is possible for spirits to read our innermost thoughts?
C. Do the fluids have peculiar qualities themselves?
Text for reading
879. The paralytic - After healing a paralytic, Jesus said unto him “My son, take heart; your sins are forgiven.” Immediately, some of the scribes said to one another, “This man blasphemes.” But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, asked them, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier to say: Your sins are forgiven, or to say: Get up and walk?
880. The paralytic immediately got up and went home. And upon seeing the miracle, the people were filled with fear and gave glory to God for having given such power to men. (Mt. 9:1-8)
881. What could be the meaning of these words: “Your sins are forgiven,” and in what way could they be used for healing? Spiritism provides the key to this, just as it does to an infinite number of other words misunderstood until now. By means of the law of the plurality of existences, it teaches us that the ills and afflictions of life are often expiations of the past and that we suffer in the present life the consequences of wrongs we committed in a previous one — the different lives being in solidarity with one another until we have paid the debt for their imperfections.
882. Therefore, if the infirmity of this man was a punishment for the evil he might have committed, by saying to him, “Your sins are forgiven,” Jesus was saying to him, “You have paid your debt; the cause of your infirmity is erased by your present faith. Consequently, you deserve to be free of your infirmity.”
883. The ten lepers - One day, as Jesus was going toward Jerusalem, ten lepers came before him; and keeping their distance, they raised their voices, saying to him “Jesus, our Lord, have mercy on us.” When he saw them, Jesus said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were healed. Seeing that he was healed, one of them retraced his steps, praising God in a loud voice. And he came and threw himself at Jesus’ feet with his face pressed to the ground, giving thanks to him; and this one was a Samaritan.
884. Jesus then asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where, then, are the other nine? None have returned to give glory to God except this foreigner.” And he said to him, “Get up, go; your faith has saved you.” (Lk. 17:11-19)
885. The Samaritans were schismatics — more or less like Protestants with respect to Catholics – and despised by the Jews as heretics. By indiscriminately healing Samaritans and Jews, Jesus was giving both a lesson on tolerance and an example of it; and by emphasizing the fact that only the Samaritan had returned to give glory to God, he was showing that he had more real faith and recognition than those who regarded themselves as orthodox.
886. By adding, “Your faith has saved you,” he was showing that God looks into the depths of the heart and not at the outward form of worship. Even so, he healed the others; he did so for the lesson he wanted to give, and also to demonstrate their ingratitude. But who knows what resulted from this, and what benefit they attained from the grace they were granted? By saying to the Samaritan, “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus implies that the same was not the case with the others.
887. The withered hand - At another time, Jesus entered the synagogue, where he found a man who had a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see if he would heal on Saturday so that they would have a reason to accuse him. He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Get up and stand there in their midst.” Then, he asked them, “On the Saturday, is it permissible to do good or evil, to save life or take it?” They remained silent. However, looking at them with indignation, he pitied them for the blindness of their hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and it became healed. Immediately, the Pharisees left and held counsel with the Herodians against him as to how to cause his downfall. (Mk. 3:1-8).
888. The stooped woman - Jesus taught in a synagogue every Saturday. One day, he saw a woman possessed by a spirit who had made her infirm for eighteen years; and she was so stooped over that she could not look up at all. Upon seeing her, Jesus called to her and said, “Woman, you are free of your infirmity.” At the same time, he placed his hands on her; and she immediately straightened up and gave thanks to God.
889. But the head of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on a Saturday, and he said to the people, “There are six days meant for work. Come here on one of those days to be healed and not on one of the Saturdays.” Jesus then said to him, “Hypocrite, which one of you does not untie his ox or donkey from the manger on the Saturday to lead it to drink? So why should this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, not be freed on the Saturday from her bonds?” (Lk. 13:10-17)
890. This incident shows that at that time most infirmities were attributed to the devil, and that, as today, possessions were confused with illnesses, but in a reverse sense; that is, nowadays those who do not believe in evil spirits confuse obsessions with pathological illnesses.
891. The paralytic by the pool - Afterward, the celebration of the Jews having arrived, Jesus went to Jerusalem. Now, in Jerusalem was the Sheep Pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, where a large number of ill, blind and lame persons and others with withered limbs lay; all were waiting for the waters to become agitated, for at a certain time the angel of the Lord would descend to the pool and stir up the water; and whoever entered first after the water was stirred up was healed of whatever sickness he had.
882. There was a man there who had been a disabled for thirty-eight years. Upon seeing him lying there, and knowing that he had been a disabled for such a long time, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” The disabled answered, “Sir, I do not have anyone to throw me into the pool after the water is stirred up, and by the time it takes me to get there, someone else gets in ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take your mat and walk.” Immediately, the man was healed; and taking his mat, he began to walk. Now, it was on a Saturday.
893. The Jews thus said to the one who had been healed, “Today is the Saturday; you are not allowed to carry your mat.” The man responded, “The one who healed me said, ‘Take your mat and walk.’” They asked him, “Where is this man who told you, ‘Take your mat and walk?’ But the one who had been healed did not know, because Jesus had withdrawn from the crowd.
894. Later on, Jesus found the man in the Temple and said to him, “You can see that you are healed; do not sin in the future or else something worse may happen to you.” The man went to find the Jews and told them that it was Jesus who had healed him.
895. For that reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Saturday. Then, Jesus said to them, “My Father has not ceased working even now, and I too work without ceasing.” (Jn. 5:1-17)
896. Among the Romans, it is said that pools (from the Latin piscis, fish) were originally tanks or aquariums where fish were raised. Later, the meaning of the word was extended to the tanks where people bathed in common. The pool at Bethesda in Jerusalem was a cistern close to the Temple and was fed by a natural spring whose water seemed to have had healing properties.
897. Undoubtedly, it was an intermittent spring that at certain times forcefully gushed forth and stirred up the water. According to common belief, that was the most favorable moment for healings; in reality, it could have been that, at the moment the water gushed forth, it had a more active property, or that the agitation caused by the gushing water carried minerals that were healthful for certain illnesses. Such effects are quite natural and well known nowadays, but backs then, the sciences were little advanced and a supernatural cause was seen behind the majority of misunderstood phenomena. Thus, the Jews attributed the stirring up of the water to the presence of an angel, and this belief seemed all the more well founded because at that moment the water was more salutary.
898. After having healed the man, Jesus said to him, “Do not sin in the future or else something worse may happen to you.” With these words he gave him to understand that his infirmity was a punishment, and that if he did not improve himself, he could be punished again even more harshly. This belief is in complete conformance with what Spiritism teaches.
899. Jesus seems to have taken the task of performing such healings on the Saturday in order to have the opportunity to protest against the strictness of the Pharisees with respect to observing that particular day. He wanted to show them that true piety does not consist in observing outward practices and formalities; rather, piety lies in the sentiments of the heart. He justified this by declaring, “My Father has not ceased working even now and I too work without ceasing.” What he meant was that God does not quit working or acting on the things of nature on the Saturday. God continues to do whatever is necessary for your nourishment and your health, and I am God’s example.
900. The man blind from birth - As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth; and his disciples asked him this question, “Master, was it the sin of this man or the sin of those who brought him into the world that caused him to be born blind?” Jesus responded, “It is not he who sinned, nor those who brought him into the world; but it is so that the works of God’s power might shine in him. It is necessary that I do the works of the one who has sent me while it is still day; night is coming, in which no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
901. Having said this, he spit on the ground, and having made clay with his saliva, he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said to him, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam,” which means Sent. Then he went there, washed and returned seeing clearly. His neighbors and those who had seen him previously begging for alms said, “Is this not he who used to sit and beg for alms?” Some answered, “It is him”; others said, “No, it is someone who looks like him.” But the man said to them, “It is I.” Then, they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?” He responded, “It was that man called Jesus; he made clay and with it he anointed my eyes, saying, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash there.’ I went there, washed and now I see.”
902. This healing also occurred on a Saturday. Then the Pharisees also questioned him in order to find out how he had recovered his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes; I washed and now I can see,” to which some of the Pharisees said, “That man has not been sent from God, since he does not keep the Saturday/Sabbath.” Others, however, said, “How could an evil man perform such wonders?” Hence, there was dissension among them.
903. They again asked the blind man, “And you, what do you say about the man who opened your eyes?” He responded, “I would say that he is a prophet.” But the Jews did not believe that the man had been blind and that he had received his sight until his father and mother came, whom they questioned saying, “Is that your son whom you say has been blind from birth? How, then, can he see now?” His father and mother answered, “We know that he is our son and that he has been blind from birth; but we do not know how he can see now, and we do not know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age and can answer for himself.”
904. Once more they called the man who had been blind and told him, “Render glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He responded, “Whether or not he is a sinner, I know nothing about that. All I do know is that I was blind but now I can see.” They asked him again, “What did he do to you and how did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have already told you and you heard; why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples?” At that, they hurled insults at him and said, “You can be his disciple; as for us, we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we do not even know where he came from.”
905. The man responded, “It is really surprising that you do not know where he came from and that he opened my eyes. Now, we know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone honors him and does his will, he listens to him. Ever since the world has existed, no one has ever heard it said that someone has opened the eyes of a man blind from birth. (Jn. 9:1-34)
Answer Key
A. May thoughts be reflected in perispiritual envelope as if its was photographed?
Yes. Since the fluids are the vehicles for thought, thought acts upon the fluids as sound acts upon the air; fluids bring thought to us just as the air brings sound. As thought creates fluidic images, it is reflected in the perispiritual envelope as in a mirror; there, it takes on a body and photographs itself somehow. (Genesis, Chap. XIV, item 15)
B. Is that from this fact that it is possible for spirits to read our innermost thoughts?
Yes. As stated in the previous question, the most secret movements of the soul passed is on to the fluidic envelope, which is how one soul can read another soul, like a book, and see what is imperceptible to the body’s eyes. (Genesis, chap. XIV, item 15)
C. Do the fluids have peculiar qualities themselves?
No. The fluids do not possess qualities sui generis, but rather acquire them within the environment where they are developed. They are modified by the emanations of that environment like the air is modified by exhalations, and water by the salts of the surfaces it crosses. According to the circumstances, their qualities are, like those of air and water, temporary or permanent, which make them especially suited to producing these or those particular effects. From a moral point of view, they bear the mark of the sentiments of hate, envy, jealousy, pride, selfishness, violence, hypocrisy, goodness, benevolence, love, charity, tenderness, etc. From the physical point of view, they are exciting, calming, penetrating, acerbic, irritating, soothing, soporific, narcotic, toxic, reparatory, expelling, etc. They become a force for transmission, propulsion, etc. A table of the fluids would thus contain all the passions, virtues and vices of humankind, and all the properties of matter corresponding to the effects they produce. (Genesis, chap. XIV, items 16 and 17.)
