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

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THE SPIRITS’ BOOK
that we have had no beginning in this sense, that, God being eternal, He must have
incessantly created. But as to when and how each of us was made, this, I repeat, is known to
no one. It is the great mystery."
79. Since there are two general elements in the universe, viz., the intelligent element and the
material element, would it be correct to say that spirits are formed from the intelligent
element as inert bodies are formed from the material element?
"It is evident that such is the case. Spirits are the individualisation of the intelligent principle,
as bodies are the individualisation of the material principle. It is the epoch and mode of this
formation that are unknown to us."
80. Is the creation of spirits always going on, or did it only take place at the beginning of
time?
"It is always going on; that is to say, God has never ceased to create."
81. Are spirits formed spontaneously, or do they proceed from one another?
"God creates them as He creates all other creatures, by His will. But we must again repeat that
their origin is a mystery."
82. Is it correct to say that spirits are immaterial?
"How is it possible to define a thing in regard to which no terms of comparison exist, and
which your language is incompetent to express? Can one who is born blind define light ?
'Immaterial' is not the right word; 'incorporeal' would be nearer the truth, for you must
understand that a spirit, being a creation, must be something real. Spirit is quintessentialised
matter¹, but matter existing in a state which has no analogue within the circle of your
comprehension, and so ethereal that it could not be perceived by your senses."
We say that spirits are immaterial, because their essence differs from everything that we know under the
name of "matter." A nation of blind people would have no terms for expressing light and its effects. One
who is born blind imagines that the only modes of perception are hearing, smell, taste, and touch: he does
not comprehend the other ideas that would be given him by the sense of sight which he lacks. So, in
regard to the essence of superhuman beings, we are really blind. We can only define them by means of
comparisons that are necessarily imperfect or by an effort of our imagination.
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¹ Subsequent spirit-communications have declared the universe to consist of three elements or modes of
substantiality-viz.. Soul, Force, Matter; and, while asserting that the two former are non-material substances,
restrict the term 'matter" to the element from which bodies are formed.-TRANS.