The Invisible Part of Man
There is much inside and around us that is invisible to the “ordinary” eye and not recorded by the five senses of an average human being.
“The greatest difficulty for the physicalist is the idea of invisible worlds. To him all existence must be objectively perceptible to everybody, be susceptible of scientific exploration. Whatever is not visible physical matter does not exist for him.”
Henry T. Laurency
Conventional science still maintains that humans only have a visible body or organism; that all life activities are confined to what lies within the physical; and that consciousness can be reduced to chemical and electromagnetic processes occurring within the brain.
This has serious implications because if everything is limited to the physical body, then its inevitable deterioration will indicate the end of life and man's existence and consciousness — the annihilation of the self's identity. It is no wonder, then, that modern times are characterised by a desperate search for ways to prolong physical life and a constant rush to enjoy everything possible, because, as the saying goes, “you only live once”. However, serious seekers should look deeper.
There are many phenomena that the average person cannot sense, and therefore they are considered non-existent by the majority of the inhabitants of our planet, Earth. Of course, there are causes for these phenomena, but they are a total mystery to most people, who can barely record the effects of these causes. Examples of this are the activity of the forces of nature and the causes of most diseases, but that is a subject for another analysis.
Expressed differently – everything is above all what it appears to be: physical material reality, but beside that always something totally different and immensely more.
The same is true of the constitution of a human being. Much is invisible to the majority, including the causes of our ability to function as human beings, to sense, feel, think and act in the visible physical world.
Hints from the past
Our ancestors did possess a knowledge of man’s far wider and deeper constitution than is acknowledged nowadays. There was hardly any primitive tribe or civilized nation before the advent of modern times that did not possess the traditional teaching of a multiplicity of human subtle bodies or envelopes, one of which expressly is closely connected with the organism.
The umbra or “shadow” of the Romans, the ka of the Egyptians, the linga sharīra or prānamaya kosha of the Hindus, and the po of the Chinese, are familiar to historians of culture and religion.
In addition we have the iklozi or ithongi of the Zulus, the udjibbom of the Ojibwa Indians, the anigi of the Central American Black Caribs, to cite only a few further examples corresponding to the umbra, etc. of the Romans. How can there be such a consensus between widely separate peoples if their ideas did not refer to real things?1
Surely there have always been people for whom the 'invisible phenomena' around and inside us are not invisible, or at least not entirely.
Some individuals with extended abilities
One of the most notable figures in our recent past was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), who, among other things, could accurately and objectively describe people’s emotions, thought patterns and medical conditions, as well as the subsequent cures for those conditions. She also provided countless authentic demonstrations of how mental energy dominates physical matter, showing that there is much more to humans and the world around us than the ordinary human eye and senses can perceive. She described the invisible aspects of our world in her extensive books, Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888).
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1847-1934) was a prolific researcher, author and writer into superphysical realities. He was able to see the “invisible” envelopes of men and described his observations of different human envelopes and phenomena in them in his books Man Visible and Invisible (1902) and Chakras (1927).
Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a researcher, author and educator. She has desbribed her extrasensory observations in her books Man and His Bodies (1896) and Thought Forms (co-author C.W. Leadbeater, 1901).
Dora van Gelder Kunz (1904-1999) was a so-called natural talent of extrasensory abilities who was from an early childhood encouraged by her parents and trained by C. W. Leadbeater.
She was able to see the higher envelopes of man and was particularly known for her work with the unseen human field energies in an individual. Since childhood Mrs Kunz was aware of such forces, and she made a lifetime study of how they work and how they relate to attitudes and emotions, this awareness later evolved into an understanding of the universal healing field from which both healers and patients can draw fresh, potent healing energies.2 She has described her experiences in several books, e.g. The Personal Aura (1991) and The Chakras and the Human Energy Fields (co-author Shafica Karagulla, 1989), where she conducts medical research with Dr Karagulla by using her perception of auras to describe patients conditions.
Phoebe Payne Bendit (1891-1978) had extrasensory abilities from her early years, but she was not aware until she reached adult life that other people could not see the things she saw. She saw a field of force around human beings that changed in color and intensity with their emotions and attitudes or their state of health. She learned to judge the quality of people’s character by the color and condition of this energy field which she saw around them. For example she was frequently puzzled that other people did not know when some individual was lying, as it was so obvious to her. Later in her life she worked with her psychiatrist husband, Laurence J. Bendit, in helping people with their problems. She has written a book on her experiences, Man’s Latent Powers (1938).3
So, in our time, interest in finding out more about man and our existence has slowly but surely increased. While the physicalist theory of the world remains firmly entrenched, some researchers have presented a much broader perspective.
Modern research into and evidence of the “invisible” part of man
Research by Dr Shafica Karagulla
Dr Shafica Karagulla (1914-1986) was a medical doctor, neuro-psychiatrist and scientist, who in her research delved deep into the hidden side of human abilities and constitution. She was educated in the Medical School of American University of Beirut (degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, 1940), then specialized in psychiatry in Scotland, where she took her residency at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Mental and Nervous Disorders. In 1948 she obtained a diploma in psychological medicine (D.P.M.) from the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England and in 1950 she became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (M.R.C.P.Ed.), the highest medical qualification in Great Britain.
For many years, Dr Karagulla thoroughly researched people who appeared to have extrasensory abilities that far exceeded the five senses of an ordinary human being. Using scientific methods, she recorded her findings and observations of various types of extrasensory ability in her 1967 book, Breakthrough to Creativity.
Regarding the human constitution, Dr Karagulla made a number of important observations during her research with Dora van Gelder Kunz. Dr Karagulla regarded Dora as one of the most gifted individuals she had ever encountered. Mrs Kunz had control of her abilities and could use them efficiently at any time. She could see the physical organs inside the body, as well as any pathology or disturbance in function. Although she had not studied medicine and often used layman's terminology, her descriptions were accurate, clear, and easily translatable into medical terms.
Medical diagnosis confirmed that Dora Kunz's observations were accurate in all the cases she worked on.
Furthermore, Mrs Kunz was also able to see a “vital or energy body” (editor’s note: etheric envelope), which sub-stands the dense physical body and interpenetrates it like a sparkling web of light beams. This web of light frequencies is in constant movement and apparently looks somewhat like the lines of light on a television screen when the picture is out of focus. This energy body extends into and through the dense physical body and for an inch or two (2-6 cm) beyond the organism. It is a replica of the physical body. Mrs Kunz insisted that any disturbance in the physical structure itself is preceded and later accompanied by disturbances in this energy body. Within this energy body, or pattern of frequencies she observes eight major vortices of force and many smaller vortices.
Not only was Dora Kunz aware of the conditions of the physical body and its energy counterpart (energy body), but she also saw a so-called emotional or sentinent field (editor’s note: emotional envelope). This field extends a foot to eighteen inches (30-45 cm) from the periphery of the body and is ovoid in form. In this field Mrs Kunz evidenced colors and energy patterns, which indicate emotional states and conditions. She also was able determine e.g. whether a person is honest and trustworthy.4 Mrs Kunz has herself written that there is also a real physical basis for such abilities (clairvoyance). The power centers in a tiny organ in the brain called the pituitary gland. The kind of vibrations involved are very subtle and there is a special spot of sensitiveness between the eyes above the root of the nose which acts as the external opening for the gland within.5
Following meticulous research and experimentation, Dr Karagulla concluded that:
humans have a vital field of physical energy which is on the edge of visibility. This field expresses itself as a web of light that extends several inches (2–6 cm) beyond the body.
Furthermore, humans also have emotional and mental or intellectual fields, which extend to about eighteen inches (45 cm) and two feet (60 cm) beyond the body, respectively.
In her book The Chakras and the Human Energy Fields (1989), co-authored with Dora van Gelder Kunz, Dr Karagulla describes the etheric, astral (emotional), mental, and causal bodies of humans. Not only did she recognise and investigate the presence of these fields, she also attributed the quality of bodies to them, considering them to be integral parts of the human being.
Research by Charles Webster Leadbeater
C. W. Leadbeater (1847-1934) was able to see different superphysical realities and described his experiences and experiments in methodic detail in his several books and lectures. He described his means for research as the so-called clairvoyant methods, though he was strongly aware of how sorely misused and even degraded this term is. Nevertheless, he defined clairvoyance as the power to see what is hidden from ordinary physical sight and stated that it is frequently accompanied by what is called clairaudience, or the power to hear what would be inaudible to the ordinary physical.6
To him and to others capable of seriously studying clairvoyance, this was a matter of direct knowledge and certainty, although it is presented to the consideration of the world merely as a hypothesis. He stated that it is exceedingly difficult for the average person to realise that, in proportion to what there is to be seen, their power of vision is much more imperfect than that of people with extrasensory abilities. Also, the average person is strongly inclined to suggest that those who see a little more than they do must be using their imagination to create their so-called facts. One of the most common mistakes is to assume that the limits of our perception are also the limits of what can be perceived.
Leadbeater highlighted that the scientific evidence is indisputable, and the infinitesimal proportion (as compared to the whole) of the groups of vibrations by which alone we can see or hear is a fact beyond doubt. The clairvoyant is simply a man who develops within himself the power to respond to another octave out of the stupendous gamut of possible vibrations, and so enables himself to see more of the world around him than those of more limited perception.7
Leadbeater discerned between different kinds of clairvoyance, which means the ability to see the following material realities:
the etheric matter and etheric body (etheric vision or clairvoyance), which consists in susceptibility to a far larger series of physical vibrations than ordinary and its possession brings into view a good deal to which the majority of the human race still remains blind.
the astral or emotional body (emotional clairvoyance),
the mental body (mental clairvoyance) and
the causal body (causal clairvoyance), the highest body in man’s possession.
Especially the causal clairvoyance, but also the mental clairvoyance are very rare abilities and are present only in a highly developed human being.
Emotional clairvoyance is the most common and can occur on lower developmental levels, than for example etheric vision.8
It is important to stress that different types of clairvoyance can be expressed in different quality and depth, they can be fully developed or only partially so, they can be intentional and unintentional. But to the trained clairvoyant who is able to employ all these various degrees of sight in turn, the entire life of the man in all its stages lies open like a book; for on these higher planes no man can hide or disguise himself; what he truly is, is seen to be by any unprejudiced spectator.9
So, man has not only the physical body which we see, but he has also within him what we may describe as bodies appropriate to different worlds of nature, and consisting in each case of their matter. In man’s physical body there is etheric matter as well as the solid matter which is visible to us. Man has a body of astral (emotional) matter and exactly the same thing is true with regard to the mental matter in its turn, as man also has a mental body. Man’s highest body is the causal body.10
Research of out-of-body experiences
There have been a number of researches who have experimented and documented their research on the so-called out-of-body journeys, also called astral projection. Oliver Fox (1885-1949) can be regarded as one of the pioneers of out-of-body experiences in the West.
His articles in the “Occult Review” were published in 1920, which caused Hereward Carrington to comment on those pieces as follows:
“The only detailed, scientific and first-hand account of a series of conscious and voluntarily controlled astral projections which I have ever come across.”
Oliver Fox’ expanded his series of articles into a book called “Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences”, which was published in 1939 (in the US in 1962), where he describes in practical terms his many out-of-body experiences and reveals several hints about the technique, which he is using to effect such conscious aparting from the physical organism. In his own words, the book contains a large amount of evidence – verifiable, if the reader is prepared to take the trouble – that it is possible to obtain a new state of consciousness in which the soul appears to function outside of the physical body.11
Sylvan J. Muldoon (1903-1969) and Hereward Carrington (1880-1958) conducted their research on such phenomena during a number of years and jointly published their records in The Projection of the Astral Body (1929) and The Phenemena of Astral Projection (1951). In the latter book they discuss about the existence of a subtle body.
They point out that mankind has a massive weight of human belief and testimony into the subtler human bodies, from the earliest times to our own day, in all parts of the world, and among civilized and uncivilized peoples. Then we have those cases of apparitions in which the so-called phantom-form seems to exhibit a mind of its own – often imparting information unknown to the seer at the time, but afterwards verified. Also, we have those cases in which material effects are apparently produced by the phantom, or its image appears upon photographic plates. In the cases of astral projection the subject sees his own phantom body and is occasionally seen by others.
In these last instances especially, we have evidence that the phantom-form possesses a mind of its own, separate and distinct from the physical brain and body, which latter may be seen resting upon the bed. In their opinion, the cumulative mass of such testimony is most impressive and gives the right to believe that such a ‘spiritual body’ exists – as St. Paul long ago stated.12
Lately, Robert Bruce, has contributed to the research of out-of-body experiences, especially sharing his comprehension on the techniques and methods to produce a stable and skillful out-of-body experience. He has published several books, most well-known of them probably Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences (2009).
Some cases of human existence without the physical organism or the five senses
There are thousands of recorded cases of near-death, after-death and out-of-body experiences, which indicate that man consists of much more than just the physical organism visible to the ordinary eye and that man is able to successfully exist, record memories and be consciously alive without the organism and the interference of the five senses. Dr Mary Neal has claimed that there are almost 20 million people in the US alone, who have had profoundly transformative near-death experiences.13
Research has stated that near-death experiences (NDE’s) are reported by about 17% of those who nearly die.14
Dr Raymond Moody has in his research tried to highlight some characteristic features that are commonly observed in NDE’s, a la a perception of seeing and hearing apart from the physical body, passing into or through a tunnel, encountering a mystical light, intense and generally positive emotions, a review of part or all of their prior life experiences, encountering deceased loved ones, and a choice to return to their earthly life.15
Dr Jeffrey Long, a founder of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation’s comprehesive website (nderf.org) and database of NDE cases, has pointed out that considering NDE’s from both a medical perspective and logically, it should not be possible for unconscious, comatose or clinically dead people to often report highly lucid experiences that are clear and logically structured. Most NDE’rs report supernormal consciousness at the time of their NDE’s.16
The following highlights just some of these experiences in order to describe the context of such phenomena, which the physicalist scientific community is unable to explain rationally. These experiences suggest that a human being can be conscious in their subtle body or bodies, even when their physical organism is paralysed, comatose, or considered dead.
The case of Dr Mary Neal
An orthopaedic spine surgeon and the former Director of Spine Surgery at the University of South California, Dr Mary Neal, was drowned while kayaking on a river in Chile in 1999.17 She became trapped under a waterfall for at least 12-15 minutes, completely under water. The people who resuscitated her (kayaking professionals) would say that she was without oxygen for up to 30 minutes.
Tom Long, a friend and EMT (emergency medical technician) who was with Neal when she drowned, has described that after 90 seconds under water, Neal couldn’t have been breathing anymore.:
I don’t know what happened, Long said. We’re 24 minutes into it; she’s dead. Blue, waxy, no heartbeat, no breathing, cold-to-the-touch dead.18
Human brain cannot survive without oxygen for more than 5-6 minutes at most. At the one-minute mark, brain cells begin dying and at 10 minutes, even if the brain remains alive, a coma and lasting brain damage are almost inevitable.19
In her own words, from a speech given at an IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies) conference:
My thinking along was “OK, I know that I have been underwater for too long to still be alive… I knew that I wasn’t hallucinating. I kept doing self-assessment exams… I can still feel the water, I can still feel the current working on my body, I can still feel my body being sucked out of the boat … I can feel my knees bending backwards … the ligaments tearing … and I still felt absolutely wonderful, had no pain, and so my body came over the front deck of the boat … I can feel my spirit peeling away from my my body, sort like peeling apart two pieces of a tape, eventually my body broke free from the boat, then my spirit rose up and out of the river …”20
According to Dr Neal, after rising up from her body and at the same time seeing her lifeless body and all around it in an ongoing fashion, she had a vivid experience of the afterlife and incredible joy and love, which was poured in her by God. She experienced a life review, which made her truly understand that every action, every decision, every choice, every human interaction really does matter. She was greeted by a group of radiant beings, who were exuding incredible love and she was taken down a incredibly beautiful path to a dome-like structure, which was exploding with color and absolute pure love. She interpreted it as the entrance to heaven. At one point she was told that it wasn’t yet her time, and she was sent back to her body and was told that she had more work to do.
After returning, her broken body was finally taken to the hospital through a tiresome journey through the Chilean wildlife. Dr Neal suffered two broken legs, multiple fractures, torn ligaments and lung problems as a result of the incident and spent a month in the hospital. But she had no pain for almost a week and a half after the incident, though she was not given painkillers. At the hospital she had another out-of-body experience, where she felt being back in God’s world.
She has described herself as a sceptic, even cynic and spent a number of months trying to think about her experiences. She tried to come up with an alternative explanation and certainly questioned her experiences. The easy explanations — dreams or hallucinations – she could discount quickly, because the experience – and the experience described by anyone who’s had a near death experience – is entirely different in quality and memory from a dream or hallucination. Also, the memory is as precise and accurate years later, as it is when it’s happening.21
The case of Dr Eben Alexander
On November 10, 2008, neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III fell suddenly and severely ill with acute bacterial meningoencephalitis. Within four hours, he had slipped into a deep coma. Initially assessed as having moderate brain injury, this rapidly progressed to severe injury over the next few hours. He remained comatose and on a ventilator for the next seven days. Surprisingly, he woke up on the seventh day and, within a few months, had made what his neurologists called a 'complete and remarkable recovery' from an illness they agreed might well have been fatal. He had no residual neurological deficit.22
His meningoencephalitis had been so severe that he had no recollections of his life before the coma. However, he was able to vividly recall his extraordinary near-death experience in a superphysical reality, which he had undergone while in a coma. He wrote this down over the next six weeks, producing a text of more than 20,000 words, which he eventually published as a book entitled Proof of Heaven (2012).
His experience of a coma taught him that near-death experiences reveal important truths about the nature of existence. Many in the conventional scientific community find it convenient to simply dismiss them as hallucinations, but this only leads them further away from the deeper truth that these experiences reveal to us. The conventional reductive physicalist model, which is embraced by many in the scientific community and assumes that the physical brain creates consciousness and that human existence is merely the period between birth and death, is fundamentally flawed. At its core, the physicalist model intentionally ignores what he believes to be the foundation of all existence: consciousness itself.23
The case of Yulia Vorobiova, the X-Ray woman
Yulia Fyodorovna Vorobiova, also known as the Miracle of Donetsk and the X-Ray Woman, was a mine crane operator in Russia. On 3 March 1978, she was hit by an electric discharge of 380 volts. Her blackened, burnt body was taken to the morgue. The doctors wrote "cause of death: electric current" on the official papers. Three days later, she woke up when a doctor poked her with a scalpel. The 'resurrected' woman was given disability status and her family was warned that she would not live for long. Six months later, she was diagnosed as completely blind at a clinic in Odessa.
However, Yulia could see what people had had for breakfast and lunch. Then she saw a calf inside a pregnant cow. Shortly afterwards, she began studying at a medical technical college to learn anatomy and develop a better understanding of what she could see.
First, she learnt to differentiate between organs, then to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy ones, and finally to diagnose situations that were not yet manifest. News of her abilities quickly spread throughout the Donetsk region and then the whole of the Soviet Union. Initially, people with illnesses that doctors had difficulty diagnosing came to her, and then doctors began referring cases that they found challenging.24
After a while, other scientists became interested in her. Following a series of tests, the renowned ophthalmologist Sviatoslav Fyodorov concluded that she was completely blind. In an experiment at the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, she was placed in a dark room containing 2,000 targets. Each time, a laser invisible to the human eye was directed at one of the targets. She identified the correct target every time. The probability of this occurring by chance is 1 in 2,000, i.e. 0.0005. If the experiment were conducted ten times, the probability of correctly identifying the target every time would be 0.0005¹⁰, or 33 zeros after the decimal point followed by 9,765,625. To illustrate, this probability is 0.0000000000000000000000000000000009765625.
The case of Robert A. Monroe (1915-1995)
Robert A. Monroe was a successful and distinguished business executive, dedicated family man, and noted pioneer in the investigation of human consciousness. He started out as a producer and director of weekly radio programs and eventually formed his own radio production company. In 1956 his firm set up a research and development division to study the effects of various sound patterns on human consciousness, including the feasibility of learning during sleep. Monroe often used himself as a test subject for this research.
In 1958, Monroe began spontaneously experiencing a state of consciousness separate and apart from the physical body, of which he was terrified in the beginning, but started to research and control later. He described the state as an “out-of-body experience”, the term popularized by Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. a leader in the area of consciousness studies. These out-of-body floating experiences altered the course of Monroe’s life and the direction of his professional efforts. While continuing his successful broadcasting activities, Monroe began to experiment with and research the expanded forms of consciousness that he was experiencing.
In the early 1970s he founded the Monroe Institute for carrying out such research. He chronicled his early explorations with a reporter’s objectivity and eye for detail in a book, Journeys Out of the Body, which was published in 1971. This public record of his out-of-body experiences in states beyond space, time, and death attracted the attention of academic researchers, medical practitioners, engineers, and other professionals. His second book was published in 1985, titled Far Journeys, which expanded upon his personal investigations of non-physical reality and in 1994 he followed suit with a third book, Ultimate Journey, which tries to explore the meaning and purpose of life and what lies beyond the limits of our physical world.25
Obviously, serious seekers are clearly looking for a world view, which amongst others gives a rational explanation to all such experiences described and comprises them into a comprehensive whole. Fortunately we have been presented with such a system of thought.
Hylozoic explanation of the constitution of man
The philosopher Pythagoras, leader of a secret knowledge order, compiled ancient wisdom into a groundbreaking worldview called hylozoics (spiritual materialism).
He taught that all matter has spirit or consciousness. All materials worlds are at the same time also spiritual worlds, lower and higher ones. Existence is a trinity of three equivalent aspects: matter, motion, and consciousness. None of these three can exist without the other two. All matter is in motion and has consciousness.
Hylozoics is made particularly comprehensible to Westerners in our modern times as this knowledge of reality has been mediated and formulated by a 20th century Swedish esoteric philosopher Henry T. Laurency.
The basic tenet of hylozoics is that all matter is composed of primordial atoms which Pythagoras called monads – the smallest possible parts of primordial matter and the smallest firm points for individual consciousness. These monads are indestructible, because of which there cannot be any death, only disintegration of form. For the evolutionary monads (e.g. human beings) to function in the worlds of man, they enclose themselves into different bodies or envelopes.
Man has five bodies or envelopes
When incarnated in the physical world (the lowest cosmic world or world 49), man has five envelopes, where different molecular kinds exist as indicated in brackets:
an organism in the visible physical world (49:5-7)
an envelope of physical etheric matter (49:2-4)
an envelope of emotional matter (48:2-7)
an envelope of mental matter (47:4-7)
an envelope of causal matter (47:1-3)
All the envelopes except the organism are aggregate envelopes. The aggregate envelopes consist of atoms and molecules held together magnetically. The four “invisible” aggregate envelopes (etheric, emotional, mental and causal) are oval in shape and extend between 30 and 45 cm beyond the organism, making the so-called aura. The aura makes up man’s total life from his birth to the end of his incarnation.
The aura radiates energy and makes up the monad’s possibility of consciousness and the domain of the monad’s apprehension; it is the receiver of all impressions, subjective or objective, from the four worlds. The colours of the aura indicate the individual’s level of development, especially the colours of the mental and emotional envelopes.26
The etheric envelope consists of evolutionary matter; and all the higher envelopes, of involutionary matter. The matter of an aggregate envelope is constantly circulating through the entire envelope like the blood in the organism, and is constantly renewed like the air in the lungs.
Approximately 99 per cent of the matter of these “invisible” envelopes is attracted to the organism, so that they form complete replicas of the organism.
The lower four of these envelopes are renewed at each new incarnation and are dissolved in order at the end of the incarnation. The causal envelope is man’s one permanent envelope. It was acquired when the monad passed from the animal kingdom to the human kingdom. This causal envelope is the “true” man and incarnates together with the human monad which it always encloses.27
Theosophists taught erroneously that man has seven envelopes or “seven principles”. H. P. Blavatsky based this description on her manifest ideal, the 45-selves who were her teachers and had seven envelopes28. But they were not members of human kingdom (the fourth kingdom) anymore, but already members of the fifth or superhuman kingdom. Later C. W. Leadbeater was able to correct this statement and describe the five envelopes of man.
The purpose of man’s envelopes
The consciousness development of the monads goes on in and through envelopes. It is by acquiring consciousness in its envelopes and in the ever higher molecular kinds of these envelopes that the monad attains ever higher natural kingdoms.29
Each of these envelopes has its special purpose. Without a physical etheric envelope the individual would lack sense perceptions, without an emotional envelope the individual would lack feelings, and without a mental envelope the individual would lack the ability to think. It is the presence of these envelopes in the human organism that enables the various pertaining organs to fulfil their tasks as long as they can function. It should be emphasized here that every cell of the organism, every molecule in the cell, contains physical atoms which themselves contain atoms of all the 48 higher kinds.30
Just as the organism all higher envelopes have their special organs (made of atoms), which are the seats of the different kinds of functions of consciousness and of motion. These atomic organs in the etheric, emotional, mental, and causal envelopes are in contact with each other.31
The envelopes are easily activated by the faintest vibration. The envelopes are perfect robots that automatically reproduce all kinds of vibrations (consciousness expressions) they receive within their molecular domains. Therefore, the percentages of the different molecular kinds in the envelopes are very important. At his lowest two stages of development, for instance, man’s emotional envelope predominantly consists of the lower three or four molecular kinds (48:4-7). The lower the level of development within the stage, the greater the percentage of lower molecular kinds, and so the monad receives chiefly vibrations from the corresponding lower regions of the emotional world.32
The envelopes are never at rest, for they are pervaded in every second by countless vibrations in their worlds, vibrations produced by molecules with energy and consciousness. It is this influence from without that “telepathically” supplies the envelopes with all manner of illusions and fictions, which (if they are apprehended by the self) the individual takes to be his own feelings and thoughts.
So, it can be said that man is not one being, but several beings at the same time.
An average man in incarnation is at least three beings simultaneously, since he has consciousness in his physical etheric, emotional, and mental envelopes.
It depends on the level of development and his acquired capabilities how well is he able to control those beings and make them function efficiently, purposefully and according to the Law. It takes thousands of incarnations to integrate those beings into a well-functioning and beneficial whole.
The envelopes are not the self
Generally, man is controlled by the consciousness content of his envelopes with their tendencies (our qualities self-acquired during thousands of incarnations).33
But it is important to understand that the envelopes of incarnation are not the self. The monad, the self, incarnates time and again until it can be sovereign in its envelopes.
These envelopes are the monad’s own work, performed during all its incarnations ever since the monad received a causal envelope and in so doing passed from the animal to the human kingdom. The monad is long a slave to the energies of these vibrations, which the envelopes absorb from the vibrations of their worlds in accord with the affinity there is between the molecular kinds of the worlds and the corresponding molecular kinds of the envelopes.
The worlds of the first self (that is the physical world 49, emotional world 48 and mental-causal world 47) have been made in order that:
the monad learns to distinguish between the matter aspect and the consciousness aspect,
the monad becomes conscious of itself and no longer identifies itself with its envelopes (the matter aspect): “I am not my envelopes.”34
All human (physical, emotional, and mental) abilities must be acquired in physical incarnation. Emotionality is ennobled through admiration, affection, and sympathy. Mentality is developed through reflection, the ever more exact apprehension of conceptual contents, increasingly widened perspectives on the relations of existence, through facts of reality being put into their correct contexts in systems of thought that embrace more and more.
Shortly on man’s four “invisible” aggregate envelopes
Etheric envelope
The matter of the etheric envelope is made up of the four physical etheric kinds (49:1-4):
atomic (49:1),
subatomic (49:2),
superetheric (49:3), and
etheric physical (49:4) matter.
The etheric envelope is the physical body proper, because it is the more important of the two physical envelopes. Without the etheric envelope the organism could neither be formed nor have any life. The etheric envelope is the vehicle and conveyor of the various functional energies, which the ancients gave the common name of vital force. Functional deficiencies of the etheric envelope react upon the organism.35
The etheric envelope conveys vibrations between the organism and emotional envelope. It depends on the composition of the etheric matter of the etheric envelope and on the functional capacity of the nervous system to what extent or in which manner these vibrations can be apprehended and reproduced by physical man. The etheric envelope has centres (Sanskrit: chakras) of different kinds of etheric molecular matter. These centres correspond to nerve centres or organs in the organism. Their positions in relation to the organism are defined by the following names:
crown centre
eyebrow centre
throat centre
heart centre
navel centre
sacral centre
basal centre
The etheric envelope is faintly luminous in its entirety and violet-blue-grey in colour.
Emotional envelope
The emotional envelope is composed of all the seven emotional kinds of matter (48:1-7). The proportion of the different states of aggregation varies considerably in different individuals, depending on their level of development. In a civilized and average man, the lower four molecular kinds (48:4-7) make up about 95 percent. In a perfect emotional self, about 99 percent belong to the highest two kinds of matter (48:1,2). When the emotional envelope consists of the highest three kinds (48:1-3) about 50 percent, then man can begin being called Man. Until then, the name subman would be more proper.
The emotional envelope conveys vibrations between the etheric and the mental envelopes. At the present stage of mankind’s development, the emotional and mental envelopes of most people are so interwoven that, during incarnation, they make up one single envelope, as it were. Vibrations in the one envelope are automatically repeated in the other.
The emotional envelope has also seven centres with the corresponding functions and closely connected with the etheric centres and have the same names. These centres, or organs, for consciousness and instruments for the will in different molecular kinds are as though replicas in emotional matter of the centres of the etheric envelope.36
Mental envelope
The mental envelope consists of the lower four kinds of mental molecular matter (47:4-7). The material composition of the mental envelope is determined by the monad’s activity in the triad mental molecule, by its faculty of vibration in the different molecular kinds. The percentage of higher mental matter increases according as man develops intellectually. In the recently causalized man, 85 percent of his mental envelope consist of the lowest mental matter (47:7).
The mental envelope conveys the vibrations and the exchange of energies between the emotional and causal envelopes. When man thinks, mental matter is ejected from his mental envelope into the mental world surrounding this envelope. This molecular mass immediately assumes a concrete, plastic form. The clearer and the more distinct the thought, the more finely chiselled is the thought-form. Most thought-forms – mental elementals – are diffuse clouds, muddy in colour, of the lowest molecular kind. Independent thinkers make forms infinitely varied in shape and colour.
The centres of the mental envelope correspond to those of the emotional envelope.37
Causal envelope
The causal envelope, man’s one permanent envelope, is an envelope of involutionary causal matter (47:1-3).
This causal envelope, this causal being, represents the human consciousness proper.
Its lifetime lasts from causalization (entering the human kingdom) to essentialization (entering the superhuman kingdom). It is the bridge between the first triad and the second triad.
The causal envelope of the recently causalized man is even from the beginning somewhat larger than the other envelopes. Its material density is minimal, however, so that the causal envelope, enclosing the lower envelopes, more resembles a thin film than anything else. Towards the end of its existence, when once filled up, organized, and penetrating the lower envelopes, it can grow tremendously in size.
During incarnation the first self (man) has two causal envelopes. This condition lasts until the monad becomes a causal self. At the time of incarnation the causal envelope is divided into two. The greater part, serving as a collector of matter supplied, remains in the causal world. The smaller part (the triad envelope), containing the lowest triad, encloses the lower envelopes. When the incarnation of the first self is concluded and the personality is dissolved, the two separate parts amalgamate to form one single causal envelope.
Among the functions of the lower envelopes is to contribute to the development of the causal envelope, by supplying it with causal matter as well as by influencing this matter into activity. This is done by involvation of causal matter into the lower envelopes and by vibrations from these envelopes. The causal matter involved from the causal envelope can, by attractive vibrations at the stage of culture, attract other causal matter, which it can bring with it later at the amalgamation of the two causal envelopes. In order to reach the causal envelope without fail and be able to activate its matter, the vibrations must belong to the superetheric molecular kind: physical 49:3, emotional 48:3, mental 47:5. As long as these lower envelopes are so undeveloped that such vibrations do not occur, there is no such influence. As for consciousness, this implies that superconscious causal consciousness remains almost inaccessible to lower consciousness.38
Lars Adelskogh The Etheric Envelope part One, 1.1.9 and 1.1.11
History of Therapeutic Touch at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center, at TherapeuticTouch.org
Dr Shafica Karagulla Breakthrough to Creativity (1967), p 228-229
Dr Shafica Karagulla Breakthrough to Creativity (1967), pp 124-125, 142, 182
Dora van Gelder The Real World of Fairies (1977), p 4
C. W. Leadbeater Clairvoyance"(1899), p 6
C. W. Leadbeater Man Visible and Invisible (1902), p 15-16
Ibid, p 94
Ibid, p 54
Ibid, p 12
Oliver Fox Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences (1962), p 151
Sylvan Muldoon, Hereward Carrington The Phenomena of Astral Projection" (1951), pp 30-31
Dr Mary Neal on TEDx JacksonHole speech on Nov 9, 2018
Zingrone NL, Alvarado CS. Pleasurable Western adult near-death experiences: features, circumstances, and incidence. In: Holden JM, Greyson B, James D, editors. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO; 2009. pp. 17–40.
Dr Raymond Moody Life After Life (1975)
Tom Long’s interview “In Deep Shift with Jonas Elrod”, Feb 3, 2015
https://www.spinalcord.com/
Yuliya Vorobeva (in Russian)
Henry T. Laurency The Way of Man, 3.2.3
Henry T. Laurency The Knowledge of Reality, 1.14.1-5, The Philosopher’s Stone, 2.19.2
Henry T. Laurency The Knowledge of Reality, 3.3.24
Ibid, 1.13.1
Ibid, 1.14.5
Ibid, 1.14.6
Henry T. Laurency The Way of Man, 3.3.2
Ibid 3.2.5; 3.11.7
Ibid 3.4.1.—3.5.1
Henry T. Laurency The Philosopher’s Stone, 2.19.3
Ibid, 2.21
Ibid, 2.22
Ibid, 2.23