"Only God knows. Nevertheless, there is something you should realize by using your reason: God, the very personification of love and charity, has never been inactive. No matter how long ago you might imagine the onset of the divine action to have been, could you possibly conceive of God as ever having been idle for even one second?"

"From your own point of view they are correct because you can only talk about matters that are familiar to you. Matter, however, also exists in states that are unfamiliar. For example, it may be so ethereal and subtle that your senses cannot detect it; it is matter nonetheless, even though you do not perceive it as such.”

"Matter is the tie that enchains spirit; it is the instrument that spirit uses and upon which it simultaneously exerts its action."

"The intelligent principle of the universe."

"It is not easy to explain spirit in your language. For you, it is nothing because it is not something palpable; nevertheless, for us it is something. You must realize that nothing means nothing and nothing does not exist."

"Intelligence is one of the essential attributes of spirit, but both merge into a common principle; thus, for you they are one and the same thing."

"They are distinct from each other, but the union of spirit and matter is necessary to enable matter to act intelligently."

"For you it is necessary because you are not built to perceive spirit apart from matter. Your senses are not formed to do so."

"Absolutely, through thought."

"Yes, and over everything is God, the Creator and author of all. These three elements comprise the principle of all that exists – they are the universal trinity. However, to the element of matter must be added the universal fluid20, which plays an intermediary role between spirit and matter per se, since matter is too dense for spirit to act upon it directly. Although from a certain point of view this fluid may be regarded as part of the material element, it differs from it due to special properties. If it were simply matter, there would be no reason for spirit not to be matter too. It is placed between spirit and matter, yet it is a fluid, just as matter is matter. In its countless combinations with matter, and under the direction of spirit, it is capable of producing an infinite variety of things about which you still know very, very little. By being the agent upon which spirit acts, this universal, primitive or elementary fluid is the principle without which matter would forever remain in a state of dispersion; it would never acquire the properties given to it by gravitation."

"We have stated that it is capable of countless combinations. What you call the electric and magnetic fluids are both modifications of the one universal fluid. Properly speaking, this fluid is a perfect and subtler matter that may be considered as being independent of matter per se."

"Words do not matter much to us. It is up to you to formulate your language in a way that you can understand one another. The disputes among you almost always arise because you cannot agree on the meanings of the words you use. Your language is incomplete regarding things that do not touch your senses."