56. The form of the perispirit is the human form ; and, as previously stated,
when it appears to us, it generally resembles the form by which we knew the spirit,
when in the flesh. It might thence be supposed that the perispirit, being disengaged
from every particle of flesh, must have moulded itself in some way upon the body, and
thus have preserved its impress; but this does not appear to be the case. The human
form, though differenced in some details, and with certain organic modifications
necessitated by the nature of the sphere in which the soul is called to exist, appears to
be common to the inhabitants of all the globes of the universe ; this, at least, is what
spirits tell us ; an this form appears to be equally that of all spirits when not incarnated,
and possessing only their perispirit. It is also the form under which, through all tune,
angels, or pure spirits, have been represented ; from all of which we may conclude that
the human form is the type of every human being, to whatever degree he may have
attained. But the subtle matter of the perispirit has neither the tenacity nor the rigidity
of compact bodily matter ; it is, if we may so express ourselves, flexible and expansive
; and therefore, the form assumed by the perispirit, although similar to that of the body,
is not absolutely the same. It yields to the will of the spirit, who can give it any
similitude he pleases whereas the resistance of the solid envelope of flesh renders such
changes of similitude impossible. Freed from the
"vile body" which once compressed it, the perispirit spreads, contracts, or otherwise
transforms itself; accomplishing every metamorphosis determined at the moment by the
spirit's will. It is through this property of his fluidic envelope that the spirit who desires
to make himself known can, when necessary, assume the exact appearance he had when
living, and can even show the bodily defects, or other peculiarities, that may serve to
identify him.
Spirits, as we have seen, are beings like ourselves, and constitute a population
environing us on every side, though invisible to us in our normal state; we say, our
normal state, because, as we shall see, this invisibility is not absolute.
