The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

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Lethargy and Catalepsy – Apparent Death

422. Patients who experience lethargy usually see and hear what takes place around them, but are unable to express themselves verbally. Is it through the eyes and ears of the body that these impressions are received?
“No, they are received by the spirit. The spirit is conscious, but cannot express itself.”


a) Why is it unable to express itself?
“The state of its body prevents it. This unusual state of the spirit’s organs proves that human beings are something more than their bodies, since the body is no longer functioning, and yet the spirit acts.”


423. While the body is in a state of lethargy, can a spirit fully separate from the body, giving it all the visible indications of death, and then come back and inhabit it?
“The body is not dead when experiencing the state of lethargy. The vitality in the body is dormant, however it still maintains some of its functions. Its vitality is dormant, but is not extinguished, and a spirit is tied to its body as long as it is alive. Once the links that bind them are broken by real death and decomposition of the physical organs, the separation is complete and the spirit never returns to that body. When one who is apparently dead comes back to life, it is because death was not fully completed.”


424. Is it possible to rejuvenate the ties that were ready to break and restore life to a person who would have died without proper medical assistance in a timely fashion?
“Yes, and you have proof of this every day. Magnetism often exercises a powerful restorative action, because it provides vital fuid to the body, which it needs to keep the organs functioning.”


Lethargy and catalepsy are both a type of temporary loss of sensitivity and power of motion, caused by some unexplained physiological condition. They differ in that in lethargy the overpowering of the vital force is general and gives the body the appearance of death, while in catalepsy, it is localized, and may affect a more or less extensive portion of the body, while leaving intelligence unaffected. Lethargy is always natural and catalepsy is sometimes spontaneous, but it may be artifcially produced and also dispelled by magnetic action.

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