Etheric body
The
etheric body,
ether-body,
æther body, or
vital body is one of the
subtle bodies in
esoteric philosophies, in some
religious teachings and in
New Age thought. It is understood as a sort of life force body or
aura that constitutes the "blueprint" of the
physical body, and which sustains the physical body.
The
prana-maya-kosha (sheath made of life-force) of
Vedantic thought could be considered equivalent to the etheric body.
The term "etheric" in the
Theosophy context seems to derive from the writings of
C.W. Leadbeater[Leadbeater, C. W., Man, Visible and Invisible, 1902] and
Annie Besant[Besant, Annie, Man and His Bodies, 1911] (
Adyar School of Theosophy). It is given an almost identical meaning by New Age writer
Barbara Brennan who describes it as the first (lowest) layer in the "human energy field" or
aura.
[Brennan, Barbara, Hands of Light : A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field (Etheric body), Bantam Books, 1987]According to Adyar Theosophy and
Alice Bailey, the etheric body and the
etheric plane correspond to the four higher subplanes of the
physical plane.
Prana principle
In Theosophy, the
Prana principle
[Blavatsky, H.P., The Key to Theosophy] is understood as the vital,
life-sustaining force of living beings and the vital energy in all natural processes of the universe. Its first expounding came in the
Upanishads, where it is part of the worldly, physical realm, sustaining the body and the mother of thought and thus also of the mind. Prana suffuses all living form but is not itself the
Atma or individual soul.
Linga Sharira
On the other hand, the "Linga Sharira" is the Sanskrit term for the invisible double of the human body. It has been called by many other names such as etheric body, etheric double (or
astral body in the original Theosophical concepts by
Blavatsky). It is one of the seven principles of the human being, according to theosophical philosophy. It serves as a model or matrix of the human body form, thus it is often called the "double" since it has the same shape and appearance as the body. The body conforms to the shape or condition of this double. It is a vehicle of
prana or
qi, thus its other name,
pranamayakosa. Its effusion of energy can be observed through
Kirlian photography or Kilner screens. Such glow around the body is called the human
aura.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of
Anthroposophy, often refers to the etheric body (
Ätherleib or "Life Body") in association to the etheric formative forces and the
evolution of
man and the cosmos.
[Steiner, Rudolph, Occult science - An Outline. Trans. George and Mary Adams. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1909, 1969] According to him, it can be perceived by a person gifted with clairvoyance as being of "peach-blossom color".
Steiner considers the etheric reality or life principle as quite distinct from the physical material reality, being intermediate between the physical world and the astral or soul world.
According to
Max Heindel's
Rosicrucian writings
[Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter IV, The Constitution of Man: Vital Body - Desire Body - Mind), 1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3], the etheric body, composed of four ethers, is called the "Vital Body" since the
ether is the way of ingress for vital force from the
Sun and the field of agencies in nature which promote such vital activities as assimilation, growth, and propagation. It is an exact counterpart of our physical body, molecule for molecule, and organ for organ, with one exception: it is of the opposite sex, meaning POLARITY. It is slightly larger, extending about one and one-half inches beyond the periphery of the physical body.
The "Astral body" (Soul body)
These Rosicrucian teachings, called
Western Wisdom Teachings, explain that the vital body is the same body as the 'etheric double'; the author refers that this body, through which vital force ingresses, is constituted by four ethers. In order to form the "Astral body" (the two superior ethers) it is necessary a
transmutation that can be achieved in a secure (voluntary-conscient-positive) way, becoming an "Invisible Helper", through a
spiritual oriented life devoted to
altruistic service to mankind and through a careful
esoteric training.
However, it is also mentioned that esoteric training should be appropriate to the
race substructure of the
individual; meaning mainly that spiritual exercises who work efficiently in an individual of an eastern race (as eg.
yoga) will not bring great achievements in the spiritual unfoldment of an individual from a western race, and vice-verse,
[The Rosicrucian Fellowship, Eastern and Western Spiritual Alternatives] which may even lead to emotional and mental disorders.
The Western Wisdom Teachings explain also that the term "Astral body" - a vehicle made of
ether (from the Vital body), which is lighter than air and therefore capable of levitation - was employed by the mediaeval
Alchemists, because of the ability it conferred upon the one who has it to traverse the "starry" regions. The Astral body should not to be confounded with the
Desire body: during the
soul flights the desire body molds itself readily into this prepared matrix; when the individual returns to the physical body, the effort of will whereby he enters it automatically dissolves the intimate connection between the desire body and the soul body. The Astral body is also known as the 'Soul body', the
Golden Wedding Garment, the '
Philosopher's Stone', or the 'Living Stone', spoken of in some of the ancient philosophies as the 'Diamond Soul' (
"for it is luminous, lustrous, and sparkling--a priceless gem"), and will eventually be evolved by humanity as a whole
[Heindel, Max, Freemasonry and Catholicism, ISBN 0-911274-04-9].
Another term used for
vital force is said to be "
Odic fluid".
Some theosophists held that the
vital force could be identified with "
N-rays". This notion, named after the city of
Nantes where the radiations were "observed" by physicist
René-Prosper Blondlot in 1903, have long since been debunked in mainstream
physics.
Modern theosophists sometimes claim that the ideas discussed in this article are related to a contemporary area of fringe science, modern
Aether theories. Even fringe scientists are likely to disavow such a relation, and few if any physicists would recognize theosophy as closely related to physics.
However, there are alternative explanations that some Theosophists may regard as plausible - which includes the model of the
dynamic [massfree energy]
aether [Aspden, Harold, The Physics of Creation (i.e. Chapter 7: "Aether Structure"), 2003 (pdf available)] [Wilcock, David, Light on Quantum Physics] [Mishin, Alexander M., The Ether Model as Result of the New Empirical Conception, International Academy of MegaSciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (html available)], sub-divided in different levels of density, with density proportional to the density of any physical substance occupying the area of space concerned, increasing around large bodies such as stars and planets, acting as a refracting medium and affecting the speed of propagation of light and electromagnetic forces, etc. - for all the experimental data and astronomical observations currently cited in support of the special and general theories of relativity, and the internal inconsistencies and unwarranted assumptions of standard
relativity theory have been pointed out by dozens of scientists
[Pratt, David, Einstein's relativity theory vs. the ether from a Theosophic viewpoint (rev'd 09/05)] [Wilcock, David, The breakthroughs of Russian astrophysicist Dr. Nikolai A. Kozyrev (1908-1983)]. It must be re-iterated, though, that these ideas should in no way be construed as being indicative of generally accepted scientific opinion on the subject.
New experimental research in physics and biophysics
[Correa, P & Correa, A, Aurora Biophysics Research Institute - Overview, Akronos Publishing, 2000] based upon the conception of a dynamic ether, which is a controverial issue to the mainstream science, describes that it has experimentaly developed technological equipment capable of measuring etheric fields that are immanent to complex organisms (such as human beings)
[Correa, P & Correa, A, Biological Field and Contact Meter (BAM)] and with potential applications, among others, in
medical diagnostics and in practices of
alternative medicine.
*
Subtle body*
Etheric projection*
Esoteric cosmology*
Linga sarira*
Odic fluid,
Prana,
Qi* Powell, Arthur E.
The Etheric Double
