Wednesdays in Chicago - August 9, 2016

What is the perispirit? 

Our brains create perceptions when we are in the material world (that tree is beautiful, the architecture is ugly, or we dislike someone instantly, but we not certain why). Our perispirit connects the perceptions from this lifetime to our other existences. 

This was question 93 in Kardec's The Spirit's Book: Is the spirit, properly so called, without a covering, or is it, as some declare, surrounded by a substance of some kind? 

"The spirit is enveloped in a substance which would appear to you as mere vapor, but which, nevertheless, appears very gross to us, thought it is sufficiently vaporous to allow the spirit to float in the atmosphere, and to transport himself through space at pleasure." 

In other words, spirits are not abstract, vague, indefinable beings; nor are they only a brilliant light or flame. They are very real beings possessing individuality and a determined form. If you were a medium passing the spirit of your grandmother, she may appear as a bright light - or as you remembered her when you shared the existence in which she was your grandmother. If she appeared to you as a young girl from that existence, you might not recognize her, as your memories of her are from when she was your grandmother. 

Human beings are composed of three essential things: 

1) The soul (or the spirit): 

This is our intelligence - where our thoughts and moral sense reside. The spirits can hear our thoughts, which is why silent prayers are effective. 

2) The body: 

This is our coarse, material envelope. Think of your spirit (or intellect) wearing different bodies over a very long lifetime - like different clothing. The body we have enables our spirit to relate to the material world 

3) The perispirit: 

A fluid envelope that is the intermediary between the spirit and the body. Your spirit will encounter many lifetimes. How is it that some people might have an extreme fear of fire while others do not? The perispirit connects your current body to your previous experiences from your other existences. 

Death is just a transition in which the body no longer functions. It collapses, and the spirit sheds that old, worn out envelope. Only the body is left behind, because the spirit lives on, without the material matter that kept it tied to earth. This metamorphosis is similar to the bark of a tree, or a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. The body is gone, but the spirit lives on. 

How does the spirit "live on" without a body? 

Think of the perispirit as the envelope of the soul. When we receive a mailed item in an envelope, the size and shape of the envelope indicates what is inside (a bill, a greeting card, a magazine, etc.) This is how mediums can pick up on the thoughts, desires and feelings - their spirit sees the perispirit of someone else. 

Spirits who show themselves to mediums often utilize their perispirit to assume different appearances .This was a breakthrough concept for Kardec, as the spirit was previously considered a separate "ghost". In other words, we had a spirit and a perispirit, but they were not connected; they were two separate entities. Kardec scientifically tested this theory. He studied the properties of what was called (at that time) "fluids" (now we would call it electricity, magnetism, and heat) and classified his research as "psychic" or "spiritual fluids". Both terms are still used today. 

We can see our bodies, so can we also see our perispirit? 

The perispirit is usually invisible to us, but the spirit can modify and transform it so that it is accessible to our sight. This is how mediums are able to see spirits. If needed, mediums can describe the physical characteristics of what your grandmother looks like - even if the medium and your grandmother have never met. The perispirit is similar to exhaling in the winter and being able to see your breath. It's always there, but only the winter conditions allow you to see it. 

So our perispirit is just an additional "home" (besides our bodies) for our spirit? 

Just like our personality, our perispirit has many different aspects: 

- It carries the memories from other lifetimes. Our current spirit uses that as a way to connect our experiences in this lifetime to our brain (giving us our perceptions of things). Do you like horses? Perhaps you had a positive connection to that animal in a previous existence. 

- The perispirit is enclosed (or part of) the spirit proper. They are attached, but they can separate.

- The perispirit gives us our appearance - your material body description (thin, blond, etc). This appearance is drawn from your previous life (and your current state). 

- The perispirit also serves as a shape in which the spirits can see each other (by sending out "fluidic" emanations that can affect those around us). These emanations are often subtle (similar to us with our material world personalities sometimes). This is why mediums are often able to perceive other mediums. 

- The perispirit plays a key role in mediumship between the interaction of the perispirit of the medium and that of a disembodied spirit. Kardec explained that, "When invited to our plane of existence (Earth) by a medium, spirits who inhabit worlds...are obliged to clothe themselves with a garment composed of perispirit. The most elevated spirits, when they come to visit us, assume a terrestrial (earthly) perispirit, which they retain during their stay among us." 

- According to Kardec, it is also through the perispirit that disincarnate spirits can move objects. 

- Our perispirit is constantly under change, as our spirit progresses - or it may eventually be harmed. 

- From page 155 of The Spirits Book: "A master who had been cruel to his slaves might become a slave in his turn, and undergo the torments he had inflicted on others. He who has wielded authority may, in a new existence, be obliged to obey those who formerly bent to his will. Such an existence may be imposed upon him as an expiation if he have abused his power. But a good spirit may also choose an influential existence among the people of some lower race, in order to hasten their advancement; in that case, such a reincarnation is a mission." 

- The perispirit can leave the material body - while we undergoing an incarnation (alive in our material existence). The spirit, including its perispirit, can momentarily leave the material body while we are asleep or in a trance state. The spirit still remains tied to the body through a fluidic chord. In this case, the form represented is an exact copy of the material body, and can, if conditions permit, be seen by a medium. 

(Question: The perispirit is no longer necessary when a spirit attains perfection. Why is that?) 

References: 

Allan Kardec (translated by Anna Blackwell): The Spirits' Book (1996). pp. 94, 117, 155, 93rd question 

Allan Kardec: Spiritism in its Simplest Expression (2012). pp. 14-17