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

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ALLAN KARDEC
of the universal matter, modified to that end. For you, it is au elementary body, like oxygen or
hydrogen, which, nevertheless, are not primitive elements; for all the bodies known to you,
though appearing to you to be simple, are modifications of the primal fluid."
- This statement seems to imply that vitality is not due to a distinct primitive agent, but is a
special property of the universal matter resulting from certain modifications of the latter.
"Your conclusion is the natural consequence of what we have stated."
65. Does the vital principle reside in any one of the bodies known to us?
"“It has its source in the universal fluid; it is what you call the magnetic fluid, or the electric
fluid, animalised. It is the intermediary, the link between spirit and matter."
66. Is the vital principle the same for all organic beings?
"Yes; but modified according to species. It is that principle which gives them the power of
originating movement and activity, and distinguishes them from inert matter; for the
movement of matter is not spontaneous. Matter is moved; it does not originate movement.'
67. Is vitality a permanent attribute of the vital principle, or is vitality only developed by the
play of the organs in which it is manifested?
"It is only developed in connection with a body. Have we not said that this agent, without
matter, is not life ? The union of the two is necessary to the production of life."
- Would it be correct to say that vitality is latent when the vital agent is not united with a
body?
"Yes; that is the case."
The totality of the organs of a body constitutes a sort of mechanism which receives its impulsion from the
active or vital principle that resides in them. The vital principle Is the motive power of organised bodies.
And while the vital principle gives impulsion to the organs in which it resides, the play of those organs
develops and keeps up the activity of the vital principle, somewhat as friction develops heat.
Life and Death
68. What is the cause of the death of organic beings?
"The exhaustion of their bodily organs."
- Would it be correct to compare death to the cessation of movement in a machine that had
got out of gear?