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

213
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
"In somnambulism, the spirit is entirely freed from the action of matter; the material organs,
being in a sort of catalepsy, are no longer receptive of external impressions.
"This state most frequently occurs during sleep, because the spirit is then able to absent itself
from the body which is given up to the repose that is indispensable to matter. When
somnambulism occurs, it is because the spirit of the sleeper, intent upon doing something or
other that requires the aid of his body, makes use of it in a manner analogous to that in which
spirits make use of a table, or other material object, in producing the phenomena of physical
manifestations, or of a human hand, in giving written communications. In the dreams of
which a man is conscious, his organs, including those of memory, are beginning to awaken;
and, as they only receive and transmit to the spirit imperfectly the impressions made on them
by exterior objects or action, the spirit, who is then in a state of repose, only perceives these
impressions through confused and often disconnected sensations, which, in many cases, are
still further confused by being mingled with vague remembrances of his present life and
anterior existences. It is easy, therefore, to understand why somnambulists do not remember
their visions, and why the greater number of the dreams you remember have no rational
meaning. I say the greater number, for it sometimes happens that dreams are the consequence
of a precise remembrance of events that have occurred in one of your former lives, or even a
sort of intuition of the future."
426. Is there any connection between what is called mesmeric somnambulism and natural
somnambulism?
"They are the same thing; the only difference between them being that one of them is
artificially produced."
427. What is the nature of the agent called the magnetic or mesmeric fluid ?
"It is the vital fluid, animalised electricity; a modification of the universal fluid."
428. What is the nature of somnambulic clairvoyance?
"We have told you that it is soul-sight."
429. How can the somnambulist see through opaque bodies?
"It is only to your gross organs that bodies are opaque. Have we not told you that matter is not
an obstacle for a spirit, since he passes freely through it ? A somnambulist often tells you that