Allan Kardec-THE Spirit's Book_ The Principles of Spiritist Doctrine (1989)

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ALLAN KARDEC
"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; an(l this peculiar state of his bodily organs
proves that man consists of something more than a body, since the body no longer works, and
yet the spirits acts."
423. Can a spirit, in a state of lethargy, separate himself entirely 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 hut 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
desegregation of the bodily organs, the separation 15 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 an 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.