Realising that the etheric body was an expression always of the dominant energy controlling mankind in any particular cycle, H.P.B. used the term “astral body” as interchangeable with the etheric body. The etheric body, in the vast majority of cases is the vehicle or the instrument of astral energy. The mass of men are still Atlantean or astral in their natures, and this means a far larger percentage than the average occultist is willing to admit. H.P.B. was, however, truthful and knew that at that time and for several hundred years afterwards (probably about three hundred years) the astral body would continue to govern the mass of human reactions and their consequent daily life expression. Hence the apparent confusion in the writings between these two “bodies.”
Here is a basic statement—one that is so basic that it governs and controls all thinking anent the etheric body:
The etheric body is primarily composed of the dominant energy or energies to which the man, the group, the nation, or the world reacts in any particular time cycle or world period.
If you are to understand clearly, it is essential that I lay down certain propositions anent the etheric body which [142] should govern all the student’s thinking; if they do not, he will be approaching the truth from the wrong angle; this, modern science does not do. The limitation of modern science is its lack of vision; the hope of modern science is that it does recognise truth when proven. Truth in all circumstances is essential and in this matter science gives a desirable lead, even though it ignores and despises occultism. Occult scientists handicap themselves either because of their presentation of the truth or because of a false humility. Both are equally bad.
There are six major propositions which govern all consideration of the etheric body, and I would like to present them to students as a first step:
1. There is nothing in the manifested universe—solar, planetary or the various kingdoms in nature—which does not possess an energy form, subtle and intangible yet substantial, which controls, governs and conditions the outer physical body. This is the etheric body.
2. This energy form—underlying the solar system, the planets and all forms within their specific rings-pass-not—is itself conditioned and governed by the dominant solar or planetary energy which ceaselessly and without break in time, creates it, changes and qualifies it. The etheric body is subject to ceaseless change. This, being true of the Macrocosm, is equally true of man, the microcosm, and—through the agency of humanity—will eventually and mysteriously prove true of all the subhuman kingdoms in nature. Of this, the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom are already evidences.
3. The etheric body is composed of interlocking and circulating lines of force emanating from one or [143] other, or from one or many, of the seven planes or areas of consciousness of our planetary Life.
4. These lines of energy and this closely interlocking system of streams of force are related to seven focal points or centres to be found within the etheric body. These centres are related, each of them, to certain types of incoming energy. When the energy reaching the etheric body is not related to a particular centre, then that centre remains quiescent and unawakened; when it is related and the centre is sensitive to its impact, then that centre becomes vibrant and receptive and develops as a controlling factor in the life of the man on the physical plane.
5. The dense physical body, composed of atoms—each with its own individual life, light and activity—is held together by and is expressive of the energies which compose the etheric body. These, as will be apparent, are of two natures:
a. The energies which form (through interlocked “lines of forceful energy”) the underlying etheric body, as a whole and in relation to all physical forms. This form is qualified then by the general life and vitality of the plane on which the Dweller in the body functions, and therefore where his consciousness is normally focussed.
b. The particularised or specialised energies by which the individual (at this particular point in evolution, through the circumstances of his daily life and his heredity) chooses to govern his daily activities.
6. The etheric body has many centres of force, responsive to the manifold energies of our planetary Life, but we shall consider only the seven major [144] centres which respond to the inflowing energies of the seven rays. All lesser centres are conditioned by the seven major centres; this is a point which students are apt to forget. It is here that knowledge of the egoic and of the personality rays is of prime usefulness.
It can be seen, therefore, how exceedingly important this subject of energy becomes, because it controls and makes the man what he is at any given moment, and likewise indicates the plane on which he should function, and the method whereby he should govern his environment, circumstances and relationships. If this is grasped by him, it will enable him to realise that he will have to shift his whole attention from the physical or the astral planes on to the etheric levels of awareness; his objective will then be to determine what energy should control his daily expression (or energies, if he is an advanced disciple). He will realise also that as his attitude, attainment and comprehension shift to ever higher levels, his etheric body will be constantly changing and responding to the newer energies. These energies he will be will-fully bringing in; this is the right use of the word “will-full.”
It is not easy for the average seer or clairvoyant to distinguish the etheric body from its environment or to isolate its particular type of energy or livingness, for the reason that its automaton, the physical body—being composed of vibrant energetic atoms—is itself in constant movement, and such movement involves a necessary radiation as a consequence; animal magnetism is an illustration of this radiation. This emanation from the dense physical body normally and naturally mingles with the energies of the etheric body, and thus only the trained seer can differentiate between the two, particularly within the physical body itself.
[145] From one point of view the etheric body can be looked at in two ways: first, as it interpenetrates, underlies and occupies the entire physical organism and, secondly, as it extends beyond the physical form and surrounds it like an aura. According to the point in evolution will be the extent of the area which the etheric body covers beyond the outside of the physical body. It may extend for a few or many inches. It is only in this area that the vital body can be studied with relative ease, once the emanatory activity of the physical atoms is offset or allowed for.
Within the physical body, the network of the etheric body is to be found permeating every single part. It is peculiarly associated at this time with the nervous system, which is fed, nourished, controlled and galvanised by its etheric counterpart. This counterpart is present in millions of tiny streams or lines of energy, to which the Eastern occultist has given the name “nadis.” These nadis are the carriers of energy. They are in fact the energy itself and carry the quality of energy from some area of consciousness in which the “dweller in the body” may happen to be focussed. This may be the astral plane or the planes of the Spiritual Triad, for none of the energies can control the physical body from any plane, no matter how high, except in this manner. According to the focus of the consciousness, the psychic state of awareness, the potency of aspiration or desire, and the point in evolution or the spiritual status, so will be the type of energy carried by the nadis, passing from them to the outer nervous system. This general proposition must be accepted, for the whole subject is as yet too intricate, and the mechanism of observation of the student too undeveloped, for me to enter into greater detail. This will suffice as an initial hypothesis upon which to work.
The amount of energy and the type of energy controlling any aspect of the nervous system is conditioned by the centre [146] in its immediate area. A centre is a distributing agency, in the last analysis. Even though that energy will affect the entire body, the centre most responsive to the quality and type will potently affect the nadis, and therefore the nerves, in its immediate environment.
It must always be remembered that the seven centres are not within t
he dense physical body. They exist only in etheric matter and in the etheric so-called aura, outside the physical body. They are closely related to the dense physical body by the network of nadis. Five of the centres are to be found in the etheric counterpart of the spinal column, and the energy passes (through large and responsive nadis) through the vertebrae of the spine and circulates then throughout the etheric body as it is interiorly active within the physical vehicle. The three head centres exist, one just above the top of the head, another just in front of the eyes and forehead, and the third at the back of the head, just above where the spinal column ends. This makes eight centres but is in reality seven, as the centre at the back of the head is not counted in the initiation process, any more than is the spleen.
The powerful effect of the inflow of energy, via the energy body, has itself automatically created these centres or these reservoirs of force, these focal points of energy, which the spiritual man must learn to use and through the means of which he can direct energy where needed. Each of these seven centres has appeared in the course of human evolution in response to energy from one or other, or from several, of the seven rays. The impact of these rays upon the etheric body, emanating as they do periodically and ceaselessly from the seven rays, is so potent that the seven areas in the etheric body become more highly sensitised than the rest of the vehicle, and these in due time develop into responsive distributing centres. The effect of these seven centres upon the physical body in due time produces a condensation or a [147] state of what is called “attracted response” from dense matter, and thus the seven major sets of endocrine glands slowly came into functioning activity. It must here be remembered that the whole development of the etheric body falls into two historical stages:
1. That in which the etheric energy, flowing through responsive centres and creating the endocrine glands as a consequence, gradually began to have a definite effect upon the blood stream; the energy worked through that medium solely for a very long time. This still remains true, for the life aspect of energy animates the blood, through the medium of the centres and their agents, the glands. Hence the words in the Bible that “the blood is the life.”
2. As the race of men developed, and consciousness grew greater and certain great expansions took place, the centres began to extend their usefulness and to use the nadis, and thus to work upon and through the nervous system; this produced conscious and planned activity upon the physical plane, commensurate to the man’s place in evolution.
Thus the incoming energy forming the etheric body created a needed etheric mechanism with its corresponding dense physical counterparts; it therefore, as will be noted from its relationship to the blood via the glands, and to the nervous system via the nadis (both through the medium of the seven centres), became the transmitter of two aspects of energy: one of which was kama-manasic (desire-lower mind) and the other atmic-buddhic (spiritual will—spiritual love) in the case of advanced humanity. Herein lies full opportunity for all, as the Law of Evolution proceeds to dominate all manifestation. What is true of the Macrocosm is true also of the microcosm. [148]
II. THE BASIS OF NON-SEPARATENESS
The use of the creative imagination is of value here. It may not give a true picture on all points, but it will convey one great reality. The reality to which I refer is that there is no possible separateness in our manifested planetary life—or elsewhere for that matter, even beyond our planetary ring-pass-not. The concept of separateness, of individual isolation, is an illusion of the unillumined human mind. Everything—every form, every organism within all forms, all aspects of manifested life in every kingdom in nature—is intimately related each to each through the planetary etheric body (of which all etheric bodies are integral parts) which substands all that is. Little as it may mean, and useless as it may appear, the table at which you write, the flower you hold in your hand, the horse on which you ride, the man to whom you talk, are sharing with you the vast circulatory life of the planet as it streams into, through and out of every aspect of the form nature. The only differences which exist are those in consciousness, and peculiarly so in the consciousness of man and of the Black Lodge. There is only the ONE LIFE, pouring through the mass of forms which, in their sum total, constitute our planet—as we know it.
All forms are related, inter-related and interdependent; the planetary etheric body holds them together so that a cohesive, coherent, expressive Whole is presented to the eye of man, or one great unfolding consciousness to the perception of the Hierarchy. Lines of light pass from form to form. Some are bright and some are dim; some move or circulate with rapidity, others are lethargic and slow in their [149] interplay; some seem to circulate with facility in some particular kingdom in nature and some in another; some come from one direction and some from a different one, but all are in movement all the time; it is a constant circulation. All are passing on and into and through, and there is not one single atom in the body which is not the recipient of this living, moving energy; there is no single form that is not “kept in shape and livingness” by this determined inflow and outflow, and there is therefore no part of the body of manifestation (which is an integral part of the planetary vehicle of the Lord of the World) which is not in complex but complete touch with HIS divine intention—through the medium of HIS three major centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy, and Humanity. In the multiplicity of the forms of which His great composite vehicle is composed, there is no need for Him to be in conscious touch. It is, however, possible, should He so desire it, but it would profit Him not, any more than it would profit you to be in conscious touch with some atom in some organ of your physical body. He works, however, through His three major centres: Shamballa, the planetary head centre; the Hierarchy, the planetary heart centre; and Humanity, the planetary throat centre. The play of the energies elsewhere (controlled from these three centres) is automatic. The objective of the circulating energies—as it appears to us when we seek to penetrate divine purpose—is to vivify all parts of His body, with the view of promoting the unfoldment of consciousness therein.
This is basically true from the angle of Shamballa “where the Will of God is known”; it is partially true of those Members of the Hierarchy Who sense the Purpose and formulate the Plan and then present it in an understandable form to the lesser initiates and disciples and aspirants. These two groups work entirely on the consciousness side, which motivates and directs (as needed) the moving, [150] circulating energies. This is not true of the bulk of humanity, who are conscious but only conscious within their ring-pass-not, and are therefore fundamentally separated off by their emphasis upon form as it exists in the three worlds—the dense physical levels of the cosmic physical plane. On the lowest of these levels, the outer physical form reacts and responds to the circulating energies through the medium of the etheric energy which comes from the lowest of the four levels of the etheric plane.
Gradually the consciousness within these forms reacts to the nature of the outer vehicle as it is impulsed from etheric levels, and a profoundly significant development takes place. This development—to make a wide generalisation—falls into three categories:
1. The outer form changes under the impact of the etheric energies entering in, passing through and disappearing from (ceaselessly aeon after aeon) the form. The energy that is there one minute is gone the next.
2. This ceaseless play of energy varies in time and space, and moves lethargically, rapidly or rhythmically according to the type or nature of the form through which it is at any moment passing.
3. The energy of the etheric plane changes considerably as the aeons pass away, according to the direction or the source from which it comes. The directing energy alters significantly as evolution proceeds.
Students have been apt to speak simply of the etheric body as an entire integral entity and as constituted solely of etheric substance, forgetting that the etheric body is the medium for the transfer of many types of energy. They forget the following facts: [151]
1.
That the etheric body is itself composed of four types of substance, each of which is definitely specialised and found on one or other of the etheric levels.
2. That these substances, functioning actively in any particular etheric body, create a network of channels; they produce fine tubes (if I may use so inappropriate a word) which take the general form of the dense material or tangible form with which they may be associated. This form underlies every part of the physical body and can be seen extending for a certain distance outside of the recognisable form. This etheric body is not in reality an ovoid (as the older occult books teach) but usually takes the form or general outline of the physical vehicle with which it is associated. When, however, the head centre is awakened and functioning, then the ovoid appearance is far more frequent.
Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle Page 14