Separation of Spirit and Body

Part 2 of 2

Presentiments

Often times, as we can observe, people sense their approaching time for departure.  This is because, as the spirits tell us¹, "the soul often feels the loosening of the bonds that attach it to the body," and when this soul is resigned to its imminent transition, it "does it's utmost to hasten and complete the work of separation.  Already partially freed from matter, it sees the future unroll before it and enjoys, in anticipation, the spirit-state it is about to return to." 

Separation Before Physical Death

Sometimes the spirit can become completely separated even before the organic life completely stops.  In this case, the spirits tell us² that "the dying person no longer has any self-consciousness, but a faint breath of vitality remains for awhile", and that "at that point, the body is only  a machine kept operating by the heart."

Spiritual Help

The undoing of  the fluidic bonds that tie a spirit to the material body normally takes place, except for the cases of highly evolved spirits, with the aid of benevolent, discarnate spirits who, working like "technicians", help complete the process of separation.

¹  In answer to Question 157 of "The Spirits' Book"
² In answer to Question 156 of "The Spirits' Book"