“The day of the corpora is the night for the spiritus. When the bodies cease their labour the spirits in man begin their work. The waking of the body is the sleep of the spirit and the spirit’s sleep a waking for the body.” (Paracelsus cited in Lawrence Durrell’s “Justine”)
Well, this explains why I’m so tired some mornings. My body may be at rest but my spirit is partying it up with the other spirits!
I find this passage fascinating. If you only knew where your spirit goes when your body is recharging throughout the wee hours of the morning. Does it soar in and out of the earth’s ether touching down only at places it’s never visited before like select iridescent cells of the Brazilian rain forest or the Monet-esque sunflower fields of Provence. Or does it meet the spirits of others have also left their “corpora”, those we never see, those far away, those who have died?
A way to bridge distances if only with your imagination.
I also find it intriguing that the quote mentions that the spirit has “work” to do. Could this mean righting wrongs, healing hurts, strengthening my own sense of spirituality with my God? We are taught to say prayers before we go to sleep. A preparation, perhaps, of a deeper communion with God.
If during the night, while we are asleep, our body healing and resting from the day in order to work to the best of its capacity when conscious it only goes to say that we should also take time out, even if it is at night, to restore and strengthen our spirit.
Maybe our spirits too have places to go, people to see, things to do.
If our spirits cross paths in the night be sure to wave “hello”!
Ink And Spine 